Will 61-year-old actor Mark Hamill reprise his role as Luke Skywalker in the upcoming film "Star Wars: Episode VII"? It's a question asked by many fans of the
revived sci-fi franchise after a recent revelation that Harrison Ford is returning in the next installment as wily intergalactic smuggler Hans Solo.
Hamill told "
Entertainment Tonight" on Wednesday he was in talks with director George Lucas about returning as the film's protagonist, and that he might be reunited with Carrie Fisher, who played his on-screen sister Princess Leia.
"They're talking to us," Hamill said. "George [Lucas] wanted to know whether we'd be interested. 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."
There have been no final decisions about whether Hamill will return.
"I can tell you right away that we haven't signed any contracts," Hamill said. "We're in the stage where they want us to go in and meet with Michael Arndt, who is the writer, and Kathleen Kennedy, who is going to run Lucasfilm. Both have had meetings set that were postponed -- on their end, not mine. They're more busy than I am."
Hamill said he doesn't know the storyline or script details of Episode VII. However, the actor has some assumptions about what will come next.
"I'm assuming, because I haven't talked to the writers, that these movies would be about our offspring -- like my character would be sort of in the Obi-Wan range [as] an influential character," he said.
In the interview with "Entertainment Tonight," Hamill criticized the latest three installments of the film series, Episodes IV-VI, which used a great deal of computer generated imagery in the place of models and other more traditional film techniques. He was echoing the sentiments of many longtime fans.
"I hope they find the right balance of CGI with practical effects," Hamill said. "I love props, I love models, miniatures, matte paintings; I'm sort of old school. I think if you go too far in the direction of CGI it winds up looking like just a giant a video game, and that's unfortunate. If they listen to me at all, it'll be, 'Lighten up and go retro with the way it looks.'"
Hamill said the original crew, Billy Dee, Tony Daniels, and Carrie Harrison, should reprise their roles as well.
"Another thing I'd want to make sure of is -- are we going to have the whole gang back?" Hamill said. "Is Carrie and Harrison and Billy Dee and Tony Daniels, everybody that's around from the original [returning]? I want to make sure that everybody's on board here, rather than just one."
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