It's no secret that Mark Hamill initially disagreed with the direction The Last Jedi went with Luke Skywalker's fate, but during a BAFTA Q&A (via ComicBook), he was able to clear things out for the fans with director Rian Johnson.
This is how the exchange went:
Hamill: "I was amazed at the complexity of it, that it was so challenging, the range of emotions, every color in the pallet. Mine happened to be of a darker hue."
Johnson: "That was part of the challenge with the character of Luke. It felt like I couldn't have him on the island because he's a coward or he's giving up. He had to have an active reason he was there. His reason is, he genuinely believes the Jedi are a hindrance to the galaxy. And so he actually turns it into this kind of heroic act he's taken on his shoulders of, he knows his friends are suffering and he's making the choice to do the most painful, difficult thing for him, which is take himself out of the fight."
Hamill: "Well, you have to trust someone. As long as I was able to express my reservations about Luke — because you can't help but feel some measure of ownership like ‘Luke wouldn't say that,' or ‘Luke wouldn't do this,' — but once we had that conversation, my job was to wipe out what Mark Hamill wants and do my best to realize Rian's vision. And I thought I'm going to turn over everything. I usually have an [internal] mechanism that says ‘this feels right,' ‘this doesn't feel right.' All throughout the process… he'd say, ‘we got it.' I'd say ‘shouldn't we do one more?' and he'd say ‘no, we got it.' I said, well, Rian, if you're happy, I'm happy."
Hamill's comments about the film's portrayal of Luke not being "his" Luke Skywalker had made its way all around the fanbase, and a lot of fans were in agreement that they didn't like the way Luke went out. What everyone misses, however, is the fact that Hamill immediately admitted that he was wrong after he saw the movie—and that was during the same interview where he said TLJ Luke wasn't his Luke Skywalker.
Personally, I liked how Luke's story had ended. Though fans may have wanted him to be in the trilogy a bit more, it seems that they forget that this is no longer his story; it's Rey and Kylo Ren's. My hope is that, despite all these negative comments online, Lucasfilm doesn't buckle under pressure like Warner Bros with DC, and pumps out the Star Wars trilogy the way they see fit.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is still out in theaters.
See Also: Disney Releases New Images From Star Wars: The Last Jedi
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