Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) begins the countdown to Star Wars: Episode IX
2019 is already shaping up to be a big year. The long-awaited final season of Game of Thrones will run at some point (hopefully earlier rather than later), the much-anticipated sequel to Avengers: Infinity War will hit theaters in May, and Star Wars: Episode IX will drop on December 20, bringing the Star Wars sequel trilogy to a close.
The second installment in that trilogy — Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi — was one of the most polarizing Star Wars movies in memory, with fans not at all shy to voice their love or hatred. With Solo: A Star Wars Story failing to reap the box office rewards usually claimed by Star Wars films, all eyes are on director J.J. Abrams (who also directed The Force Awakens, the first movie in the new trilogy), to see if he can successfully close out this part of the saga.
Mark Hamill, who as Luke Skywalker has been the face of the Star Wars franchise for 40 years, recently tweeted a countdown to Episode IX.
Who's counting?#9WillBeFineAllInGoodTime pic.twitter.com/Q3rkwDdoLT
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) July 5, 2018
Naturally, Twitter responded to Hamill’s tweet in a calm and respectful demeanor. I’m kidding. Twitter erupted into an angry referendum on how you felt about The Last Jedi.
So long as Rain Johnson has nothing to do with it, I’m in
— Bryan (@cinnamatron) July 5, 2018
I thought last Jedi was awesome. Don’t @ me. Fight me....
— TheSeparatistArmy (@SeparatistArmy) July 5, 2018
Love it or leave it, The Last Jedi still earned over $1.3 billion worldwide for Disney, which means the pressure for J.J. Abrams — who earned $2 billion worldwide with The Force Awakens — to bring home a winner with Episode IX is incredibly high.
As to what part Luke will have in Episode IX, the big question is: will he have one? In The Last Jedi, Luke is convinced to come out of exile to help Rey (Daisy Ridley) and the Resistance defeat the First Order, which is led by his nephew Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). He obliges, sort of, by astral projecting himself to the planet Crait, where he duels Kylo and buys valuable time for the Resistance to escape the planet. The exertion of projecting himself across that far a distance was too much for Luke, and he died.
Is it possible that Hamill could reappear in The Last Jedi as a Force ghost? It worked for Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda before him.
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h/t Box Office Mojo, Forbes