“Star Wars” icon Mark Hamill revealed over the weekend on Twitter that the end of filming “The Empire Strikes Back” was especially tough on him ― because he had to keep one of the industry’s biggest secrets for more than a year.
And he couldn’t even tell his co-stars.
On Sunday, Hamill retweeted a fan’s post featuring a behind-the-scenes image from the film’s climax, where his character, Luke Skywalker, learns that Darth Vader is his father.
The actor said a different line was spoken on the set to keep the plot twist a secret ― which led to a year of “agony” as he had to keep it under wraps until the film’s premiere:
Hamill went into more detail on keeping the secret in a 2017 interview with the BBC that included a pitch-perfect impression of Harrison Ford learning about Luke’s parentage while watching the film for the first time.
Hamill has been sharing his “Star Wars” memories all month on Twitter, often playing off the “May the Fourth be with you” theme of Star Wars Day on May 4.
Also on Sunday, he shared a gif of a scene that had to be redone because he botched a key line — accidentally using his character’s original name: