The actor played Luke back in the original trilogy, but has been saying throughout the build-up to the new film that he initially disagreed with virtually everything writer-director Rian Johnson planned for him.
Now, in a clip posted by YouTube channel Jar Jar Abrams (as shared by Uproxx), Hamill is seen saying that he doesn’t think of the new Luke as “my Luke Skywalker”.
It’s not clear when it was filmed, but it was likely done in the immediate run-up to the film’s release earlier this month.
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE LAST JEDI LIE AHEAD.
“I said to Rian: ‘Jedis don’t give up’,” Hamill explained. “I mean even if he had a problem he would maybe take a year to try and regroup, but if he made a mistake he would try and right that wrong.
“So right there we had a fundamental difference, but it’s not my story anymore. It’s somebody else’s story, and Rian needed me to be a certain way to make the ending effective.
“That’s the crux of my problem. Luke would never say that. I’m sorry. Well in this version, see I’m talking about the George Lucas Star Wars.
“This is the next generation of Star Wars, so I almost had to think of Luke as another character. Maybe he is Jake Skywalker!”
He added: “He’s not my Luke Skywalker, but I had to do what Rian wanted me to do because it serves the story well, but listen, I still haven’t accepted it completely.
“But it’s only a movie. I hope people like it. I hope they don’t get upset.
“And I came to really believe that Rian was the exact man that they need for this job.”
Unfortunately people did get upset, and The Last Jedi has become the most divisive Star Wars movie to date.
Despite effervescent praise from some, there has also been very vocal criticism from others – with Johnson’s shift in tone and subversion of expectations proving very polarising.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is out now.