The Star Wars Deleted Scene Mark Hamill Wanted To See Back In A New Hope

When a film is as beloved as 1977's "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope," fans want to know every single thing about the process of making it. We want to see deleted scenes, concept art, hear from the cast and crew, and learn why key creative decisions were made. Any chance to talk to anyone involved, particularly with "Star Wars," tends to bring out some interesting information. One such bit of info came out during a 2013 Reddit AMA ("Ask Me Anything") with star Mark Hamill, who brought up a deleted scene that he wanted to see in the film. 

The scene had actually been released for the world to see on a 2011 Blu-ray, but Hamill brought broad attention to it for the first time. While you can definitely get a sense of the reason for its removal, it also gives fans who have been following the story of the Skywalkers for over four decades some welcome information about Luke's past and insight into his motivation for the heroic act he performs at the end of the film. 

During the AMA, Hamill spoke about this scene, which was originally slated to appear near the beginning of the film. Hamill explained it was going to take place after Luke sees the space battle where R2-D2 and C-3PO eject from the Star Destroyer above Tatooine. Here's how he described it: 

" ... he races to the club [a small cantina], and you see what his life is like on Tatooine. This beautiful actress calls him Wormy. I loved it [because] you saw that he wasn't well-liked by his peers, and he bumps into Garrick Hagon [the actor who plays Luke's childhood friend Biggs Darklighter], and Luke is really excited [because] he has joined the Empire, and Luke is so anxious to get off the farm and find his lot in life. He's thrilled that Biggs has joined the Empire, and feels as soon as he'd get the chance he'd join the Rebel Alliance. This shows that Luke is apolitical, and joining the Empire is even attractive to him."

As you can see if you watch the scene, Biggs is back from the Imperial Academy, and Luke meets him at the cantina. He's teased by other friends Camie Marstrap and Laze "Fixer" Loneozner (Koo Stark and Anthony Forrest, whose characters got their first names in the film's novelization, which came out in 1976), with Camie referring to Luke twice as "Wormy." 

By the way, if those two characters look familiar to you, there might be a reason for that. In episode 2 of "The Book of Boba Fett," Camie and Fixer (now played by Mandy Kowalski and Skyler Bible, respectively) appear in a cantina, having stayed on Tatooine.

The "New Hope" deleted scene shows us what Luke's life is like on Tatooine, working for his uncle and longing to join an organization that's bigger than himself. As Mark Hamill said, it also tells us that Luke isn't really political at the start of this saga. He just wants to get off the planet and see the galaxy. The scene is pretty wordy, and it's clear why it was cut; it definitely slows down the story. At the time, Hamill said in the AMA: 

"They changed to get to the plot faster, so now it goes straight into the fourth scene. The only place you can see it is the novelization of the screenplay. With all the tweaking and adaptations, why not put it in to add detail to the story that's not there?"

At this point in the history of "Star Wars," adding that to yet another cut of the film would be fine, and it's always a blast to see these things. While it stands out a little too much narratively, it does give Luke a major connection that shows up at the end of the film. As /Film's Steven Ward said in his article about the deleted scene, Biggs' death in the final battle (after he joins the Rebel Alliance) is actually the thing that gets Luke to turn off his targeting computer and trust the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) in his head, leading to the final blast that blows up the Death Star. His character arc works fine as-is in the theatrical version, but it makes a little more sense and lends the moment a sense of poignancy if you think about it in conjunction with the deleted scene.

All the "Star Wars" films are streaming on Disney+.