Mark Hamill On The One 'Last Jedi' Deleted Scene He Wishes Wasn't Cut

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the longest Star Wars movie to date. It would've been even longer with the inclusion of several deleted scenes that are featured on the home video release. Now, Mark Hamill, has voiced his regret over the deletion of one specific scene: Luke mourning the death of Han Solo.

The recent Blu-ray release of The Last Jedi is loaded with deleted scenes, all of which were cut to maintain the pacing of the 2 hour and 32 minute film. While the finished film works well without the bulk of these deleted scenes, there's one nixed sequence in particular that actor Mark Hamill wishes had stayed in the final cut.

That scene, called "Luke Has A Moment" on the Last Jedi deleted scenes, comes after Luke asks Rey, "Where's Han?" It shows Luke angrily telling Rey that he came to the island of Ahch-To to be left alone, and has no intention of returning to help the Resistance. He then retreats to his hut, and has a very quiet, emotional moment where he looks utterly heartbroken. As he lowers his head, there's then a match-cut to Carrie Fisher's Leia with her head lowered as well. The match-cut effectively represents the duo both mourning Han Solo in their own individual, but similar, ways.

Hamill told IGN he regrets the deletion of this scene "because it shows Luke was putting on a facade in front of Rey and even Chewie, that he was embittered and sort of a broken man. And I think the fact that he could let his emotions out when he was by himself would have made an impact on the audience because it allowed them to grieve the loss of Han Solo just the way Luke felt it."

On the commentary for the deleted scene, director Rian Johnson confirms the scene was cut for pacing. The director says that while he was editing the film, he made the decision to have a lot less intercutting in between storylines. The deleted scene in question was created to transition from Luke mourning to Leia mourning, and enable the story to jump from Luke and Rey's storyline to the storyline of the Resistance. But Johnson felt that the film worked better by remaining in one place longer rather than continually jumping back and forth.

I see both Johnson and Hamill's points here. I agree with Johnson that cutting the scene does help with pacing, but I also agree with Hamill that leaving the scene in would've made for a great emotional character moment for Luke. For his part, Johnson does say on the commentary that he hated to lose such a big emotional scene for Hamill. At least we can take solace in the fact that the deleted scene is now available for anyone who owns the film on Blu-ray or digital.