Mark Hamill felt "the heart was gone" from ‘Star Wars’ once Carrie Fisher passed away.
The 72-year-old actor had starred as Luke Skywalker opposite the late Hollywood icon’s Princess Leia in the sci-fi series’ original and sequel trilogies but admits that his experience in the franchise was diminished by her death from a sudden cardiac arrest in 2016.
During his ‘Mark Hamill Live’ panel at Fan Expo Chicago at the weekend, he said: "My wife (Marilou York) came into the bedroom - she gets up earlier than I do - I was still asleep. She had tears rolling down her face saying that Carrie had …
"It forever altered how I reacted to ‘Star Wars’ in general. The heart was gone. I don’t talk about it because I don’t like reliving it."
Reflecting on the original 1977 movie, Hamill paid tribute to his late co-star for bringing an "effortless feminism" to the franchise by standing strong against the dreaded Darth Vader and taking command of Skywalker and Han Solo ( played by Harrison Ford).
He said: "I thought that it was effortless feminism to have the Princess be far from a shrinking violet.
"She was tough, she was telling Darth Vader off to his face - she was not intimidated by Darth Vader in the slightest.
"'I thought I recognised your foul stench’ … I mean, wow! Pretty mouthy, huh?
"And when we rescued her, she made chumps out of Luke and Han: ‘You call this a rescue? Gimme that gun!’
"And she made us look like two stooges. I thought, ‘That’s effortless feminism’, because it’s not apologetic, it’s just showing a woman is as [capable] as any man."
Hamill revealed that he and Fisher had a turbulent relationship but also shared a "special" connection with one another.
He told Esquire: "We could be as loving and supportive as possible, then we could have big arguments and say, 'Well, I never want to speak to you again,' and not speak for six months.
"But every time you came back, you picked up right where you left off. We had a connection that is special."
