After three trailers and an official poster for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," there's at least one question on every fan's mind: Where is Luke?
Other than this mysterious shot of a robotic hand reaching out to R2-D2 — which fans have assumed belongs to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) — and a leaked photo of Hamill in costume that Disney had removed from numerous sites, we have yet to see the fan favorite in marketing for the new film.
Why haven't we seen him? Why is Lucasfilm being so secretive with the big Luke reveal?
Those questions have led some to believe there may be more to Skywalker's character and that he may have turned to the dark side.
Let’s think about this.
Could Luke be evil?
We know Skywalker is capable of turning to the dark side of the Force
The son of Darth Vader, he's the heir to the dark throne. Yoda was hesitant to train him to be a Jedi since he was already beyond the age in which one would typically receive Jedi training, making him possibly more susceptible to dark influences.
He also saw signs of anger and impatience in Luke, just like in his father Anakin, which could lead him to fall prey to the dark side.
Hamill is no stranger to playing the bad guy
After his "Star Wars" run, Mark Hamill has gone on to play one of the most iconic villains in the DC Universe. He's primarily known as the voice of the Joker on the Emmy-nominated "Batman: The Animated Series" and various "Batman" video games and TV movies.
He's also voiced Darth Bane in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" and has played a few Marvel villains from Red Skull and the Hobgoblin to Ulysses Klaw in animated series.
Recently, Hamill has appeared on "The Flash" reprising an old role as The Trickster.
An old clip from 2005
While Hamill is known for playing some roles that established his chops as someone who could play, say, an up-and-coming Sith Lord, the biggest piece of evidence which has fans thinking about Luke's role in "The Force Awakens" is an old clip from a 2005 episode of IFC's "Dinner for Five," a show featuring actor/director Jon Favreau where a group of celebrities spoke casually with each other about projects they've worked on.
Hamill appeared on one of the episodes along with "The Force Awakens" director J.J. Abrams, Stan Lee, Jason Lee, and Kevin Smith.
Eleven minutes into season four, episode nine, Smith asks Hamill about a "Star Wars" show the two were rumored to be working on at the time. The conversation quickly turns to the prequel trilogy and whether Hamill could have seen Luke turning to the dark side in 1983's "Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi."
Surprisingly, Hamill says he pitched that idea to creator George Lucas.
"I pitched that to George," said Hamill. "As an actor that would be more fun to play. I just thought that's the way it was going. When we finished two, I figured that's what will be the pivotal moment. I'll have to come back, but I'll have Han Solo in my crosshairs and I'll be about to kill him or about to kill the princess or about to kill someone we care about."
Hamill said an evil Luke might have turned "Return of the Jedi" into "an old cornball movie."
Even though it wasn't going to happen, Hamill envisioned how he should look if his character became a Sith Lord.
"I should come back having trained somewhere with shaved widow's peak, and a top knot, and like a braid," Hamill added, but he said Lucas refused.
Instead, Hamill and Smith pointed out Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) ended up having a similar look later on.
You can watch the full episode below:
Another reasonable theory is that Luke has pulled a Yoda.
Just as Yoda fled to Dagobah to hide away, maybe Luke has done the same and he'll be called upon to train another Jedi in the ways of the Force.
Honestly, this theory seems to make more sense. If you've seen the one leaked image of a bearded Luke, he's seen visibly wearing Jedi robes.
What do you think? Could Luke be heading to the dark side or are fans just reaching?
As some have pointed out, maybe Lucasfilm just wants to keep some mysteries under lock and key until the movie debuts in December.
With the number of spoilers we see in trailers and marketing today, going in with a few surprises would be nice.
