Mark Hamill Recounts How He Found Out Darth Vader Was Luke’s Father In EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

More Star Wars fans already know the story of how Mark Hammill learned the big surprise twist The empire strikes again that Darth Vader was the father of Luke Skywalker. But, in an interview with StarWars.com, Hamill shared the story in his own words about how it all unfolded. Once he finally learned the secret, he had to keep it to himself for over a year. He said:

One day before shooting the big scene with Skywalker and Vader, director Ivan Kershner he took Hammill aside for a routine script change. Hamill shared:

“In the script that everyone got, the line was, ‘You don’t know the truth. Obi-Wan killed your father.’ I thought, ‘This is a great twist!’ If Alec Guinness is the ultimate villain, I didn’t expect it.”

Then, just before shooting the scene, Kershner revealed the even bigger twist that would change everything for Luke. It’s the moment where Darth Vader would say to Luke, “No, I’m your father.” Hamill went on to talk about the burden of keeping this secret:

“Kershner said, ‘I’ll tell you what. I know it. George knows. And when I tell you, you’ll know. But that means it’s only three people. So if he loses, we’ll know it’s you.’ So the burden of keeping it a secret for more than a year, maybe a year and a half, was enormous. It was huge. Like I said, there was no social media and I wouldn’t leak it anyway, but I talk in my sleep. I was terrified at that knowledge.

Harrison Ford he actually got a little pissed about being kept out of the loop and outed at the film’s first cast screening. Hamill explained:

“Harrison turned to me when it happened and said ‘You didn’t tell me.’ I said, ‘I was scared! I was too scared!’ And during filming, no one on set was the wiser. Other than that, the scene played out exactly as it was. He surprised everyone!”

Hamill went on to talk about what he liked and appreciated The empire strikes again that other sequels just weren’t doing:

“One of the things I liked about the movie is that a lot of times the sequels just try to repeat the experience of the first movie it’s based on. In the case of Star Wars, it would be one of those almost fairground rides where you strap in and go on for the ride and you have the euphoric, triumphant ending, and everyone lives happily ever after and it’s thrilling and everything. But this was much more cerebral. There was a spirituality about the Force in the first one, but this one, with the addition of a character like Yoda, just blew my mind reading it. It was much deeper. It was so much more challenging for the audience and obviously so dark and so shocking that it ended up with us defeated, you know? And Harrison turned into a coffee table. It was tragic all round. It was just terrible. But it was really exciting for me. I thought, this is kind of make or break.’ If that doesn’t resonate with audiences, the future of the franchise — and I was just thinking about the trilogy at the time — is imperative that this movie connect… I figured if this fails or audiences reject it, we’re all in big trouble.

But he didn’t tank! The empire strikes again it is now regarded as one of the best movie sequels of all time. It’s crazy to look back on the original ones Star Wars movie and what the franchise has become.