Carrie Fisher Told Mark Hamill to ‘Get Over’ Himself in the 1980s

Mark Hamill is Luke Skywalker — but he didn’t always feel good embracing that.

On the June 3 episode of NPR’s Fresh Air, Hamill, 73, opened up about his long career and how, after 1983’s Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, he tried to put the galaxy far, far away behind him. Carrie Fisher — who played his on-screen sister Princess Leia in the films — was the one who helped him embrace the fame and the character.

“She came to see a Broadway show of mine,” Hamill said. Hamill had made his Broadway debut in The Elephant Man in 1981 and then appeared in Amadeus. In 1985, he performed in the musical Harrigan ‘n Hart; in 1987, he starred in The Nerd. 

“And in the Playbill, in my bio, I listed all my theater credits and at the end said, he’s also known for a series of popular space movies,” Hamill remembered. “And she goes, what’s the deal? How come you don’t mention Star Wars? And I said, well, I want … to show that I have a résumé that includes extensive theater credits.” 

Fisher, who died in 2016 at age 60, told him, “Hey, get over yourself. You’re Luke Skywalker. I’m Princess Leia. Embrace it.”

“And I kind of saw what she meant, you know, because you say to yourself, what territory do I occupy that no one else does?” Hamill said, crediting her with putting the game in “perspective” for him. 

Hamill said that he sometimes feels a “disconnect” with fans because the franchise — which has expanded to spin-off movies and TV series — is still going on for them. “For me, I had my time. And I appreciate it,” he said. “And I’m always grateful for [director George Lucas] for letting me be a part of it. But it’s over.”

He said that as actors, when they finish a job, they don’t “hang on” to it. “So I always have to really make an adjustment when I’m talking to fans where it’s very much in the present, it’s very much about the future,” he said. “I mean, if it weren’t for the fans, I wouldn’t be here. And so I’m grateful to them.”

Hamill and Fisher starred in the three original Star Wars films together, starting with 1977’s Star Wars (the title was later changed to Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope). After 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back and 1983’s Return of the Jedi, both ended up returning for the sequel trilogy, which began with 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. Harrison Ford also returned for that film as Han Solo.

Hamill told NPR that his “initial reaction” was not to do the sequel trilogy. “You can never go home again. And I was sure, I said, Harrison [Ford]’s not gonna do it. He’s got so much going on and he gets frustrated when those movies are brought up so often.”

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“But when I read in the press that he’d signed to do [it] I thought, Oh my God, I’ve just been drafted. Because if I say no and Harrison and Carrie come back. I’ll be the most hated man in nerddom. So I thought, maybe it’s fate. Maybe I should go back. So I did,” he said. Ford only appeared in the first of the three. Hamill had a cameo in the first and third (2019’s The Rise of Skywalker) and appeared widely in the second (2017’s The Last Jedi). Fisher appeared in the first two and died shortly after completing filming. Archival footage of her was used in The Rise of Skywalker.

Hamill’s career, in addition to his work as Luke, has also involved a wide range of voiceover work, including voicing The Joker in a variety of Batman projects. In 2023, he appeared in Mike Flanagan’s Netflix series The Fall of the House of Usher, and this month he stars in the director’s The Life of Chuck, an adaptation of a novella by Stephen King.