--- title: Mark Hamill on Star Wars Episode VII: "I Never Thought We'd Come Back" description: The original Luke Skywalker is thrilled with the film's new talent canonical: https://time.com/3040435/mark-hamill-star-wars-episode-vii/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-26T17:47:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:21:48.175Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Mark Hamill on Star Wars Episode VII: "I Never Thought We'd Come Back" og:description: The original Luke Skywalker is thrilled with the film's new talent og:url: https://time.com/3040435/mark-hamill-star-wars-episode-vii/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa43feb2dde01c1a/69869d59810bbb6544c92c4c/452625892.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: "Guardians Of The Galaxy" - UK Premiere - Red Carpet Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mark Hamill on Star Wars Episode VII: "I Never Thought We'd Come Back" twitter:description: The original Luke Skywalker is thrilled with the film's new talent twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa43feb2dde01c1a/69869d59810bbb6544c92c4c/452625892.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mark Hamill: New _Star Wars_ Is a 'Gift'  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jul 26, 2014 5:47 PM UTC  Mark Hamill in London, July 24, 2014. Mark Hamill in London, July 24, 2014.Samir Hussein—WireImage/Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jul 26, 2014 5:47 PM UTC Longtime _Star Wars_ fans aren’t the only ones excited to reunite with Luke Skywalker for the upcoming trilogy — even Mark Hamill called reprising his most famous role [“an unexpected gift.”](http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-28466562) “I already had a beginning, middle and end. I never thought we’d come back,” the 62-year-old actor told BBC News at the U.K. premiere of _Guardians of the Galaxy_. “I thought even if they did a third trilogy, we wouldn’t be involved, because it is really about the new generation of characters.” Hamill is joining his original 1977 co-stars Harrison Ford (Han Solo) and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) as well as [series newcomers](http://time.com/81273/star-wars-episode-vii-cast/), such as _Girls_‘ Adam Driver and _12 Years a Slave_‘s Lupita Nyong’o, for Episode VII in 2015. “These kids — they are not kids — but they are so talented,” Hamill said. “We are just there to lend our support and grow contractually obligated beards.” \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-28466562)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3040435/mark-hamill-star-wars-episode-vii/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3040435/mark-hamill-star-wars-episode-vii/"},"headline":"Mark Hamill: New Star Wars Is a 'Gift'","datePublished":"2014-07-26T17:47:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:21:48.175Z","description":"The original Luke Skywalker is thrilled with the film's new talent","url":"https://time.com/3040435/mark-hamill-star-wars-episode-vii/","keywords":["Star Wars topic","Lupita Nyong'o","mark hamill"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa43feb2dde01c1a/69869d59810bbb6544c92c4c/452625892.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa43feb2dde01c1a/69869d59810bbb6544c92c4c/452625892.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"\"Guardians Of The Galaxy\" - UK Premiere - Red Carpet Arrivals","caption":"\"Guardians Of The Galaxy\" - UK Premiere - Red Carpet Arrivals","creditText":"Samir Hussein—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3040435/mark-hamill-star-wars-episode-vii/","name":"Mark Hamill: New Star Wars Is a 'Gift'"}}]}] ```