Mark Hamill Gets Emotional After Seeing Yoda On 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Set
In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, a weathered Luke Skywalker and Yoda's Force ghost reunite — and the actors' real-life reunion is just as touching.
Skywalker, Yoda Back Together
A behind-the-scenes video clip from the set of The Last Jedi was posted on the Star Wars Legacy Twitter account, showing Mark Hamill getting emotional at the sight of his old friend Yoda and the legendary puppeteer behind him, Frank Oz.
Mark Hamill getting emotional upon seeing yoda is precious pic.twitter.com/89vxVbn6v8 — Star Wars Legacy (@theswlegacy) March 12, 2018
In the clip, Yoda speaks in his familiar croak, calling Hamill's character "young Skywalker" as he did in the original trilogy. It proved to be too much for the actor, who gets choked up in the moment.
"Oh my God, it's really getting to me," Hamill tells the crew, which included director Rian Johnson.
Even better, Oz pops out from behind the Yoda puppet, reaching out for a quick hug from Hamill. He played the iconic Jedi master in his Empire Strikes Back debut, and he was brought back for the role again in the new trilogy.
"I'm still upset that he hasn't aged a day," Hamill quips good-naturedly. "And I have aged tragically."
The video is part of the documentary The Director and the Jedi, which tracks Johnson as he puts together the latest Star Wars installment. The feature-length documentary is included in the home release of The Last Jedi.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is getting a Blu-ray release on March 27.
Yoda For 'The Last Jedi'
The reunion of Skywalker and Yoda is one of the most beloved scenes of the latest Star Wars installment.
After all, one of the most iconic and charming moments of the original trilogy was when Yoda trained Skywalker in Dagobah, paving the way for him to become a powerful enough Jedi to defeat Darth Vader.
Head of Star Wars' creature shop Neal Scanlan talked to the Nerdist about capturing the same wonder and nostalgia of original Yoda in The Last Jedi.
"We just said, 'Look we need to go back and look at Empire Strikes Back, we need to look at how Stuart [Freeborn] created Yoda because that is the most pure puppet moment,'" Scanlan explains. "We just felt that it was absolutely right and proper that we create the puppet in the closest likeness to the original and to give Frank exactly what he had the first time around."
Even the crew were in awe with working with the original characters of Star Wars.
"I mean, having Luke Skywalker and Yoda in front of you, in the middle of a real, practical set on a freezing cold night was one of the best filmmaking experiences I've ever had," VFX supervisor Ben Morris adds, sharing how they simply added a slight glow around Yoda in post-production. "It was just goosebumps."
