Mark Hamill has teased that Luke Skywalker may not appear in ‘Star Wars: Episode IX’.
The 64-year-old actor – who has played Luke since the first ‘Star Wars’ film in 1977 – hinted that he might not be required when filming starts in the next chapter of the space opera saga.
He is currently shooting ‘Episode VIII’ and told an audience at an event supporting homeless charity The Big Issue in London over the weekend: "I finish ‘Episode VIII’, and then I’m out of work."
His comments led many fans to believe that Luke could be killed off in Rian Johnson’s movie, which is due out at the end of next year.
‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ is scheduled to be released on May 23, 2019.
However, Hamill was keen to end speculation and later tweeted: "I meant "out of work" because #Ep8 is wrapping soon, OK? #DontOverThinkEVERYTHING #ParsingHamill #WaitForVIII"
It was recently claimed that Luke will teach Rey about lightsabers in ‘Episode VII’.
YouTube user Mike Zeroh claimed he received an email from a source, who accurately gave him information on Episode 7 before its release, about a new scene in the hotly-anticipated sequel, where Luke spectacularly dismantles a lightsaber in front of Rey’s (Daisy Ridley) eyes.
The e-mail read: "Luke takes his arm out and uses the force and pulls the lightsaber from Rey gently, her lightsaber floats through the air in between them, slowly going to Luke’s hand as he grabs it.
"The next sequence is of Luke Skywalker taking out his other hand and his lightsaber floats out of his belt, at this point Luke has two hands semi raised up with two lightsabers, green on the left and blue on the right.
"From what has been described, Luke closes his eyes and dismantles both lightsabers, all metal and components removed into pieces, all the building blocks of both lightsabers are separated into tiny bits and pieces, leaving only two crystals, one in each hand (green over left and blue over right hand) and informs her about the importance of the Crystals."