Mark Hamill Can't Even Tell You He's In Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Despite appearing in the trailer...

By Dan Woburn /

There's been a lot of hubbub recently about the lack of a certain one-handed Jedi Knight in any of the trailers or TV spots for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, bar one cloaked figure and a family-oriented voiceover. JJ Abrams has said that it's "no accident" and I'm inclined to agree - we'll see Luke eventually, and JJ doing his cloak-and-dagger spoiler thing just helps build our collective excitement. Mark Hamill sat down with PC Gamer recently to discuss his work in the anticipated game Star Citizen, and naturally the conversation turned to his mysterious role in the upcoming Episode VII.
"It€™s crazy though, this NDA stuff, people don€™t know. Non-Disclosure Agreements, where you€™re not allowed to talk about anything. I have something coming out where there€™s an amount of money where if it leaks because of me, I don€™t get that payment. If I keep it a secret until the day it comes out, I get that payment. I€™m good about keeping secrets."
Sounds like one heck of an incentive to keep your mouth shut. Although I think it's a shame that those are the measures that have to be resorted to - actors should keep secrets about their upcoming movies purely for the fact that, hey, maybe audiences would rather experience the moments during the film rather than before (no matter how keen an internet-savvy fanbase seem to be for getting the scoop on spoilers). Hamill, I think, knows this too; he goes onto give a great anecdote about his having to keep that classic spoiler a secret back during the days spent making The Empire Strikes Back.
€œI€™m proud of the fact that I knew a year and a half before anybody else that he was actually Dad Vader. I didn€™t tell Harrison , or my wife because I thought it would be terrible if she said €˜You know what€€™ to a fan and it got out. Irvin Kershner said €˜I know something, I€™m going to tell you. George knows, I know, and now I€™m going to tell you and if it leaks we€™ll know it€™s you.€™ Because the line originally was €˜You don€™t know the truth, Obi Wan killed your father,€™ and he said we€™re going to take out that line and put it in €˜I am your father.€™... I still remember when we saw the first screening, Harrison turned to me and said €˜You never told me that.€™ I said €˜I know, but I would have gotten in trouble if I told you.€™ Now it€™s happening all over again, I€™m not even authorized to tell you I€™m in Episode VII. It€™s all secret.€
This time it appears there's a lot more than just reputation on the line, though - Hamill wants that Schwimmer money. I for one am more than happy to wait - if we manage to keep Luke Skywalker's involvement in The Force Awakens a secret for ourselves, can you imagine the palpable excitement when everybody's in the cinema and he finally pops up on screen? Star Wars: The Force Awakens is released on 17th December in the UK and 18th December in the US.