Mark Hamill Finally Gets Real About Sebastian Stan Playing Luke Skywalker

Ever since Sebastian Stan emerged on the Hollywood scene in Captain America: The First Avenger, Marvel and Star Wars fans have noticed that the Bucky Barnes portrayer bears a striking resemblance to a young Mark Hamill, the actor who has played Jedi hero Luke Skywalker for decades. Hamill's run as Skywalker began with the first Star Wars film in 1977, and runs up through his recent appearance in The Mandalorian's season 2 finale, which first aired in 2020.

The Stan-Hamill resemblance has been observed for years. Hamill himself tweeted in 2017, "Sorry to disappoint you but I refuse to say "Sebastian Stan-I AM YOUR FATHER!" (even though, in fact, I am) #SorryNotSorry #MySonSebastian," accompanied by side-by-side photos of Stan and himself, where they look like almost the same person. Hamill's digitally de-aged Mandalorian cameo only increased fan excitement for a theoretical young Luke Skywalker movie or Disney+ show, and Sebastian Stan is fans' first choice to take over the role. 

"The existence of Sebastian Stan is itself a clarion call to tell more of Luke Skywalker's story," one destiny-minded Star Wars fan wrote on Twitter. "Some times [sic] the decision isn't commercial. Some times the stars just align and the way forward presents itself."

Stan is currently promoting his new Marvel limited series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and reporters have asked about the idea of him playing Luke Skywalker. He said he'd love to, but only with the blessing of the real Luke Skywalker. "If Mark Hamill called me, personally, to tell me he feels inclined to share this role with me, then I will believe it. Until then, I won't believe it," Stan said on Good Morning America last week.

Hamill has now responded to Stan's statement in an interesting way.

Mark Hamill neither endorsed nor rejected Stan's apparent willingness to inherit the Force. He explained that whatever decision gets made about the future of Luke Skywalker is out of his hands.

Hamill quote-tweeted a post by The Hollywood Reporter staff writer Ryan Parker about Stan's statement that Hamill would have to sign off on the casting for him to accept the role, and threw some cold water on the notion that the green lightsaber would be passed in such a way. Because the reality is that Mark Hamill is not a producer of Star Wars, and therefore doesn't have a say in any major casting decisions. "This assumes I have any say in casting decisions at Lucasfilm when in fact... I don't," Hamill wrote.

Hamill is perhaps coyly misinterpreting Stan's statement. Both actors know any casting decision is Lucasfilm's to make. Stan is just saying that he wouldn't feel right taking on the role of Luke Skywalker without Mark Hamill's blessing, should the offer hypothetically be presented. Hamill may not be a Star Wars decision-maker, but his opinion about the state of the franchise matters to fans. And Hamill is keeping his opinion to himself for now.

Should Luke Skywalker ever be recast, with Sebastian Stan or anyone else, we can look to what Harrison Ford said about Alden Ehrenreich taking up the mantle of Han Solo in Solo for an idea of how Hamill might react. According to Yahoo! News, Ford said Ehrenreich was "a wonderful guy, very sweet, and a very good actor," and he was "delighted" by the choice, though it would be "a little weird" to see someone else be Han Solo.

If the notoriously cranky Ford was that publicly positive, it seems likely that the upbeat Hamill will be even more effusive about a new Luke Skywalker — when and if that happens.