It’s been said for years, but I think it bears repeating: Luke Skywalker has become, well, quite a miserable character. Just a sad, pathetic figure, really.
It’s hard to believe Mark Hamill has managed to make audiences dislike Luke Skywalker. That seems almost unthinkable when you consider how beloved the character was just a decade ago.
But things have certainly shifted in recent years. Like many in Hollywood, it seems Hamill has caught what some call Trump Derangement Syndrome. I think it really started around 2016 for him, and it’s been on a downward spiral since then. I see similar changes in older folks, even in my grandmother at the nursing home nearby.
Honestly, it makes me sad. It’s tough to watch someone change so drastically. These things can transform people entirely, and that’s evident with Hamill.
In case you missed it, he recently shared a photo on his Blue Sky account showing President Trump in a casket. Yes, Blue Sky—I know, it’s kind of amusing. After Trump won the election, Mark promised to leave Twitter, but, well, here we are.
Hamill called it “absolutely embarrassing” that America elected Trump twice.
However, the backlash from that image was so significant that he ended up deleting it and issued some sort of vague apology that honestly felt disingenuous. He tried to play it off as something innocuous, but it was pretty clear.
Look, I’m not surprised. Hamill has been somewhat erratic for years now. His fixation on the president is hardly new.
This post of his came at the end of a rough week for the Star Wars franchise, which is what I really want to discuss here.
Disney’s “Star Wars” Series Seems to be Losing Ground
This week, Nielsen released streaming data for Star Wars content over the past year, and let me tell you, it doesn’t cast Disney’s sequels in a good light.
By “not good,” I mean viewers aren’t just avoiding them; they’re actively ignoring them.
None of the sequels—The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, or The Rise of Skywalker—made it into the top 10 most-streamed Star Wars films or shows last May 4. Not even one.
The list mostly featured the original trilogy and prequels and included some Disney productions like Andor.
I knew fans had strong feelings against the sequels but had no idea they quietly despised them to the point of total avoidance. Didn’t one of them at least make it?
But no. And why? Just look at the state of Star Wars under Disney’s direction—it’s like a tired, preachy shadow of what it used to be.
That kind of mirrors Hamill’s trajectory, doesn’t it?
The writing feels lazy. The action sequences are dull. The storylines don’t make much sense, and honestly, they come off as painfully preachy. This seems to be the new Hollywood standard ever since Trump took office.
John Boyega, who played Finn, the black Stormtrooper, has voiced frustrations about how Disney handled the introduction of black characters in the series. He wasn’t happy that his character wasn’t given a more prominent role in the last two films.
The Downfall of Star Wars Mirrors Luke Skywalker’s Own
While that’s partly true, it applies to almost all the sequels except for the first one. Disney has confirmed that most of the central cast will return, which is being framed as a tribute to fans. Surprisingly, it was the best of the sequels, by far.
When Hamill reprised his role as Luke in The Last Jedi, things really took a turn for the worse. Luke had become this unrecognizable, sad figure—a reflection, perhaps, of Hamill himself. Watching him turned into a bitter old man living in isolation? That was just embarrassing.
Luke’s demise and Boyega’s complaints weren’t the sole reasons for the failures of the trilogy.
- There were whispers of a romantic subplot between Finn and Poe.
- In one film, Finn ends up with an Asian love interest, which, frankly, didn’t fit at all.
- And let’s not forget, the Emperor appears again despite having been killed long before.
Feel free to check it out. It’s hard to believe—like watching a character turn back to life on some screen in a cave. Ridiculous.
Next to the way Disney portrayed Luke, of course—that was their biggest mistake. I could overlook the implications of virtue signaling, poor writing, even Carrie Fisher floating through space.
You just can’t ignore how they turned Luke Skywalker into an image of an old, decrepit version of Mark Hamill.
That’s where I draw the line.
