Mark Hamill happily shaved off his beard on Twitter and Facebook as the filming of Episode VIII came to a close. (What is it with actors publicly shaving off their facial hair now?) And in the process of doing so, he might have just assured us that he’s returning for Episode IX?
Let’s hope.
As you can see, Mark Hamill gets one human and one muppet to help rid him of his wizened Jedi beard. But it’s the tweet itself that causes reason for curiosity: “Haven’t seen my chin since May ’15, so #FarewellFacialFur & #ByeByeBeard (at least til #EpisodeIX)”
Of course, even if Mark Hamill isn’t lying outright to us, that’s no reason to get our hopes up in regard to Luke Skywalker’s potential survival. After all, Alec Guinness managed to be in the entire original trilogy after dying in the first one. Force ghosts make all things possible.
But if it’s true, at least that means we won’t be without Luke in Episode IX. And if he did show up as a Force ghost… well, if anyone could annoy Kylo Ren into turning away from the Dark Side, a constantly present, eye-rolling uncle would likely do the trick.
