The latest rumors suggest that Star Wars: Episode VII won’t include Luke Skywalker after all, and this reinforces just how little we actually know about the film.
Once again, this scoop comes from Latino Review Samuel L. Jackson. After breaking the news that Elizabeth Olsen would be joining The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mr. Jackson is back in the scoop game again.
On The Late Show With David Letterman, Jackson, who is on record saying that he wants to be in the film himself, said that he asked Mark Hamill if director (and now writer) J.J. Abrams had contacted him. Hamill told Jackson that Abrams had not.
Here’s the clip (via SlashFilm):
This raises a lot of questions. First off, could Hamill be playing the syntax game? Just because Abrams hasn’t contacted Hamill, that doesn’t mean that they haven’t talked. Hamill could have contacted Abrams himself. Another likely possibility is that Hamill hasn’t talked to Abrams yet because it isn’t yet necessary, but he could have easily had conversations with other individuals such as producer or LucasFilm head Kathleen Kennedy.
In the seemingly unlikely event that this means that Hamill actually won’t be in Star Wars: Episode VII, or at least a big portion of it, what would this mean for the movie? The assumed general plot idea of Luke Skywalker ushering in a new crop of Jedi would be inaccurate. This could mean he was either dead or somewhere else, and that really doesn’t seem likely.
There’s also the very small chance that Jackson is not being truthful here, but what would he gain from that? It’s certainly not going to get him in the movie, and there would be no other clear motives behind spreading this false rumor, especially if he wants to keep his reputation as Hollywood’s next big rumor scooper clean.
It would be a shock if Star Wars: Episode VII didn’t include Luke Skywalker, so assume that he’s in the movie until official word that he’s not surfaces.