Mark Hamill hasn’t been shy about discussing his, shall we say, dislike of Luke Skywalker’s arc in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, specifically in the movie where the character has the most prominence: The Last Jedi. He’s all but closed the door on ever returning to his most famous character, but the prolific actor has kept extremely busy with other roles, including two Mike Flanagan projects, The Fall of the House of Usher and Life of Chuck. He’s also in The Long Walk, one of the few Stephen King adaptations these days that doesn’t involve Flanagan, and it turns out his latter-day Luke performances helped suggest him for the part.
In The Long Walk, directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games) and scripted by JT Mollner (Strange Darling), Hamill plays the Major, who oversees the title event—in which young men march and march until they win or die—with a cruel, ruthless hand.
“There are people we could have gone for who are clearly Major material,” Mollner told Collider about Hamill’s casting. “But in the newer Star Wars movies, there’s a weariness to aging Luke Skywalker that I really wanted for the Major. And Mark conjured that in a powerful way.”
Weariness comes with aging, inevitably, but in Luke’s case, that’s also wrapped up in self-loathing and deep regrets, which makes what’s lurking beneath that gruff shell all the more fascinating when it starts to crack. In other words, Hamill is outstanding at portraying simultaneous layers of anger—a quality that seemingly made him a good fit, albeit in a totally different context, for The Long Walk.
The Long Walk also stars Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Judy Greer, Josh Hamilton, and more. It hits theaters September 12.
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