Do you remember Luke and Leia's reunion in The Last Jedi?
It was a powerful and emotionally resonant moment. You can watch the scene below:
Star Wars: The Last Jedi -- Luke Speaks With Leia On Crait ᴴᴰyoutu.be
That scene has touched the hearts of many fans since the film came out in 2017, fans like this one who, tweeting to Mark Hamill, said that acting out the scene must have been an "emotionally rich" experience for him.
As it turns out, it very much was.
"An emotionally charged day on set filming this because, knowing he was about to sacrifice his life for the greater good, Luke was saying goodbye... forever," Hamill replied.
He then revealed that the kiss Luke and Leia share "was unscripted & spontaneous in the moment, summarizing his/my feelings in a way words could never have conveyed."
That scene marked the first time in 34 years that Hamill and the late Carrie Fisher, who played Leia, had shared a scene together. It was also the last time they'd be seen onscreen together at all: Fisher, who, like Hamill became a household name as a result of the success of the original Star Wars trilogy, suffered a heart attack near the end of a transatlantic flight from London to Los Angeles on December 23, 2016, and was treated at a nearby hospital, where she later died. Her sudden death sent shockwaves around the world.
"It's bizarre because, you know, obviously we didn't know that it was gonna be a farewell scene," The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson said of the scene.
He added:
"And it's odd because I remember when we were shooting the Luke-Leia scene, it felt like church on set. It was usually a jovial set, you know, a really happy, bouncy set. And that day, everyone was just quiet and just watching these two."
Fans were especially moved by this news.
The final film of the trilogy of trilogies, Star Wars Episode IX, will be released in December 2019.