The man behind Luke Skywalker himself is defending the Star Wars prequels in a new interview. Star Wars icon Mark Hamill was interviewed for Howard Kazanjian: A Producer's Life, a book on the producer of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. In the interview, as reported by IndieWire, Hamill gave some love to prequel defenders across the galaxy.
“I was impressed the prequels had their own identity,” Hamill said. “They were criticized because they were exposition-heavy and more cerebral and probably, like he said back in 1976, they weren’t as commercial. It’s a darker story."
Hamill went on to say he's shocked at how brutal people can be on social media, both in regards to their Star Wars opinions, and otherwise.
Debate over the Star Wars prequels and sequels has been reignited recently, thanks to Marcia Lucas' comments about the films. Lucas is the Oscar-winning editor behind the original trilogy, and George Lucas' ex-wife.
In the very same book as Hamill's latest comments, Lucas talked about how she felt after seeing The Phantom Menace, saying, "I remember going out to the parking lot, sitting in my car and crying. I cried. I cried because I didn't think it was very good."
Lucas was also critical of the controversial sequel trilogy, saying, "when I saw the movie where they kill Han Solo, I was furious… Absolutely, positively there was no rhyme or reason to it. I thought, 'You don't get the Jedi story. You don't get the magic of Star Wars.'"
Hamill has previously spoken out about the sequels, saying he didn't agree with how The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson handled Luke in the film. However, Hamill later said he regretted voicing his concerns to the public, saying on Twitter, "All I wanted was to make good movie. I got more than that — @rianjohnson made an all-time GREAT one!" Hamill later spoke to IGN on the weirdly tragic trajectory of Luke Skywalker.
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Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.