Use the Force Luke… Again

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]e’s donning his black outfit, oiling his metal hand and strapping on his Lightsaber. That’s right, Luke Skywalker is back, and he may not be alone.

Yes, you read that correctly. Mark Hamill is reported to be in talks to reprise his role as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars VII, and from the sound of things, the rest of the original cast may also be signing up. The Disney feature, which is due in 2014, has already had Lost creator JJ Abrams confirmed as director, but now the casting seems to be a priority.

According to Hamill, George Lucas – who will be serving as creative consultant on the picture – asked if “we’d be interested”. The key word here is ‘we’d’, which implies that the original cast are being approached to resurrect their iconic roles from the first three Star Wars films. That’s the first three that were released, not the first three in the series (oh, you know what we mean). Continuing on, Hamill said “Carrie and Harrison and Billy Dee and Tony Daniels, everybody that’s around from the original. I want to make sure that everybody’s on board here, rather than just one.” The prospect of a cast reunion is sure to whet the appetites of fans, who will already be drooling over the prospect of another Star Wars film.

Hamill has certainly kept busy since Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi was released in 1983, with voice work coming easy for the versatile actor. He also took a turn starring in the video game Wing Commander as Christopher Blair, a role that Freddie Prinze Jr took to the big screen in the 1999 film of the same name. However, none of his roles have come close to the success and adulation that the Star Wars Trilogy received.

Of course it is still early days and nobody has signed on the dotted line as of yet, but the thought of Han, Luke and Leia reuniting is enough to get even the most stoic film buff excited. Another thing to note is that nobody else will be playing the roles in the event they don’t sign, with Hamill relaying a conversation with Lucas “He did say that if we didn’t want to do it, they wouldn’t cast another actor in our parts – they would write us out.” Would that be a good thing, or would fans welcome seeing someone else in Leia’s famous hair-do? Either way, things certainly seem to be moving at the pace of a pod racer since Disney bought Lucasfilm. With Star Wars VII and the new character spin-offs, it’s all hands ready for the jump to hyperspace.