Mark Hamill has revealed George Lucas' intentions for his 'Star Wars' alter-ego.
Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker
The 66-year-old actor portrayed Jedi Master Luke Skywalker in Lucas' original trilogy and reprised his role in the seventh and eighth instalments of the hit sci-fi franchise.
Despite only returning for 30 seconds at the end of J.J Abrams' 2015 'The Force Awakens', Hamill had a larger role in Rian Johnson's 'The Last Jedi' - which was released last year.
At the end of the movie, Luke died in order to allow the rest of the heroes to escape the clutches of Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).
However, in an interview with IGN, Hamill revealed that Lucas intended to kill off Luke at the end of 'Episode IX' after he had trained his twin sister General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) the ways of the Force.
He said: "I happen to know that George didn't kill Luke until the end of [Episode] IX, after he trained Leia.
"Which is another thread that was never played upon [in 'The Last Jedi']"
Fans of the hit franchise where left confused and shocked when Leia somehow managed to use the Force in 'The Last Jedi' to save herself from certain death, despite never showing any signs of being able to use it in the original trilogy.
Hamill then goes on to reveal that Lucas had an "overall arc" for all the iconic characters who feature in his 1970s trilogy, but said this new trilogy feels like a "relay race".
He said: "George had an overall arc - if he didn't have all the details, he had sort of an overall feel for where the [sequel trilogy was] going - but this one's more like a relay race.
"You run and hand the torch off to the next guy, he picks it up and goes.
"Rian didn't write what happens in nine - he was going to hand it off to, originally, Colin Trevorrow and now J.J.
"It's an ever-evolving, living, breathing thing. Whoever's on-board gets to play with the life-size action figures that we all are."
Following the tragic death of Fisher back in December after filming her final scenes as Leia, Hamill revealed he doesn't know whether he will be returning as a Force Ghost in Episode IX.
Tagged in George Lucas Mark Hamill J.J. Abrams