--- title: Star Wars: Mark Hamill on Force Awakens' Original Opening description: In a special Star Wars Day interview with The Sun, Mark Hamill revealed that the film's beginning sequence was changed canonical: https://time.com/4318399/star-wars-mark-hamill-force-awakens-original-opening-scene/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-04T20:56:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:32:08.186Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Mark Hamill Tells All About The Force Awakens' Original Opening Scene og:description: "The first thing that came into frame was a hand with a lightsaber" og:url: https://time.com/4318399/star-wars-mark-hamill-force-awakens-original-opening-scene/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mark Hamill Tells All About The Force Awakens' Original Opening Scene twitter:description: "The first thing that came into frame was a hand with a lightsaber" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Mark Hamill Tells All About _The Force Awakens_' Original Opening Scene > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer May 4, 2016 8:56 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer May 4, 2016 8:56 PM UTC After the release of [_The Force Awakens_](http://time.com/4150168/review-star-wars-the-force-awakens/?iid=sr-link2), one of the biggest questions many viewers had was how Maz Kanata ended up in possession of [Luke Skywalker’s](http://time.com/4247888/mark-hamill-says-luke-skywalker-could-be-gay/?iid=sr-link1) lightsaber. As fans of the initial trilogy are well aware, Luke’s first lightsaber was [lost during a scene](http://time.com/4275495/star-wars-the-force-awakens-deleted-scenes/?iid=sr-link1) in _The Empire Strikes Back_ when Darth Vader — his father — cuts off the hand that was holding it, causing both hand and weapon to fall out of sight. **Read More:** [May the Fourth Be With You on This _Star Wars_ Day](http://time.com/4315398/may-the-fourth-star-wars-day/) Well, it turns out the original opening scene for _The Force Awakens_ would have shed some light on this matter. In a special _Star Wars_ Day [interview with _The Sun_](http://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2016/05/actor-mark-hamill-confirms-original-opening-scene-of-star-wars-the-force-awakens-in-another-charity-campaign.html), Mark Hamill revealed that the film’s beginning sequence was changed. “One day I read the first 15 minutes of the film absolutely accurately,” he said. “I can tell you now that in the original opening shot of seven, the first thing that came into frame was a hand with a lightsaber, a severed hand that enters the atmosphere, and then the hand and bone burns away and goes sticking into the surface of Jakku. And this alien hand comes in, don’t know if it was Maz but it was an alien hand who takes the lightsaber \[a\]way, and then the movie proceeds as you see it.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4318399/star-wars-mark-hamill-force-awakens-original-opening-scene/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4318399/star-wars-mark-hamill-force-awakens-original-opening-scene/"},"headline":"Mark Hamill Tells All About The Force Awakens' Original Opening Scene","datePublished":"2016-05-04T20:56:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:32:08.186Z","description":"\"The first thing that came into frame was a hand with a lightsaber\"","url":"https://time.com/4318399/star-wars-mark-hamill-force-awakens-original-opening-scene/","keywords":["movies","Newsfeed","Star Wars topic","mark hamill","star wars: the force awakens","The Force Awakens"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"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":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4318399/star-wars-mark-hamill-force-awakens-original-opening-scene/","name":"Mark Hamill Tells All About The Force Awakens' Original Opening Scene"}}]}] ```