The Force Awakens: Andy Serkis' Hilarious Dinner Incident With Mark Hamill

Andy Serkis once committed a cardinal "Star Wars" sin: he forgot what Mark Hamill looked like. 

Maybe this wouldn't have been that big of a deal, except Serkis made his mistake while working on "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." During the 2023 Star Wars Celebration, Serkis attended a panel for "Star Wars" villains and admitted that he held an entire conversation with Hamill without recognizing the face of Luke Skywalker. 

Serkis said that when work first started on "The Force Awakens," the cast and crew were brought together for dinner at a restaurant. In Serkis' words, "Someone sat next to me and said, 'I'm such a big fan of your work, Andy." And I said, 'Thank you very much ... what are you doing here?' [And he said,] 'I'm on the movie.' And I said, 'Yeah ... what are you doing on the movie?" And he said, 'Well, I'm Mark.' And I said, 'Right, I know, but what are you actually doing on the movie?' And he said, 'No, no, I'm Mark.' And I said, 'I know but what are you actually doing on the movie?' And he said, 'I'm Luke Skywalker.' I completely didn't recognize [him]."

After Serkis finished his tale, his castmate Gwendoline Christie teased him, claiming that his little slip-up was probably what ultimately led to General Snoke's death in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." Given Hamill's proclivity for mischief-making (his Twitter is for shade and shade only, as die-hard fans know), that theory might not sound outside of the realm of possibility, through truly, if Hamill had that sort of sway over "Star Wars" scripts, he probably would have survived Episode VIII himself. And we all know how that turned out. 

Although credited as one of its stars, Mark Hamill only appears in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" for a handful of seconds at the very end, and he only interacts with Daisy Ridley. He's really only there to tease what's going to happen in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." All the motion capture work that Andy Serkis filmed for his first "Star Wars" outing (separate from his later live-action debut as Kino Loy in "Andor") would have been wholly separate from what Hamill filmed. And, in fairness to Serkis, Hamill looks a little different than the last time he officially donned the robes of Luke Skywalker. It's also worth noting that Hamill's career outside of the "Star Wars" franchise is predominantly voice work — and a lot of it. 

Also, despite the fact that Hamill seems to be a very, very online individual (courtesy of his extremely active Twitter), this just goes to show how most interviews, behind-the-scenes content, and general celebrity media goes unwatched by the actual talent themselves. Even though Hamill has been behind a microphone more than in front of a camera, his face is plastered everywhere you could possibly look. After all, he's Luke Freakin' Skywalker. Maybe Serkis was too busy recording his audiobooks?