This year marks the iconic 40th Anniversary of the very firstStar Warsmovie, 1977’sA New Hope, with the celebration kicking off next month atStar Wars Celebration, There, fans are expected to get their first look at theStar Wars: The Last Jeditrailer. May also marks the 37th anniversary for the sequelEmpire Strikes Back, considered by many to be the best movie in the entire franchise. While this year doesn’t mark a particularly memorable milestone for the sequel, some behind-the-scenes video was recently recovered up from the set, and it shows the usually-wholesomeMark Hamillletting out an uncharacteristic curse word. There’s a good reason for the swear though, as it came after a snake bit his hand on the set.
The scene in question takes place towards the end ofEmpire Strikes Back, where Yoda tries to convinceMark Hamill’s character Luke Skywalker to stay and complete his Jedi training, because if he chooses the quick and easy path, he will become just like Darth Vader. While “Yoda,” voiced by an unspecified actor off camera, recites his speech, Luke is seen grabbing a snake, and before he sets it down, the snake bites him on the finger, which causes the actor to say, “He f—ing bit me.” When aTwitteruser named “HamillMania” showedMark Hamillthe video, the actor had this to say on social media.
“Snake(blind from moulting)flinched each time I touched him-After several takes he got fed-up & “f***ing bit me”! Off-camera Yoda lines=LOL!”
The actor also took to Twitter back in January 2016 to defend the snake, since he had gone blind from moulting, i.e. shedding a layer of its skin. He even joked on Twitter then that this snake was still kinder than many of his critics. Still, it doesn’t seem that the actor was badly harmed by this encounter, joking about the incident just seconds later, calling it, “a little love nip,” before the video cuts out. Needless to say,Mark Hamillhasn’t handled any snakes or other wild animals in anyStar Warsmovie since then, unless of course you count his encounter with the Ewoks inReturn of the Jedi. But at least they didn’t bite.
Mark Hamillmade his long-awaited return asLuke Skywalkerat the very end of 2015’sStar Wars: The Force Awakens, where he encountered Rey (Daisy Ridley), who had flown to the hidden planet of Ahch-To to deliver his old lightsaber. He will have a much bigger role inStar Wars: The Last Jedi, which is rumored to be quite similar toEmpire Strikes Back, in the same way thatThe Force Awakensbore many similarities toA New Hope. It’s possible that a scene similar to this snakebite scene could play out, only withDaisy Ridley’s Rey presumably leaving her own training with Luke Skywalker.
There have been rumors that after meeting Luke Skywalker onAhch-To, Rey will start her Jedi training, much likeLuke started his training with Yoda on the planet of Dagobah inStar Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. Similar to how Luke leaves when he senses that Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Leia (Carrie Fisher) are in trouble, Rey reportedly abandons her training with Luke to save her friends Finn (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), after they are reportedly captured by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). While we wait for more onStar Wars: The Last Jedi, take a look at this behind-the-scenes video fromThe Empire Strikes Back, along withMark Hamill’s tweets.
