Mark Hamill Shaves His Luke Skywalker Beard, Teases Its Glorious Return For ‘Star Wars: Episode 9’
During the production ofStar Wars: The Force Awakens,Star Warsfans kept an obsessive watch over the status ofMark Hamilland his beard. This wasn’t the first time a passionate fandom followed an actor’s hair for clues about what to expect from their character in the future. During the same period,Game of Thronesaficionados breathlessly watched as Kit Harington’shair wasn’t shorn, leading everyone to rightfully assume that the seemingly late Jon Snow was making a return. TheMark Hamill Beard Watchwasn’t quite as obsessive as that (mainly because we knew less about the status of Luke Skywalker than Jon Snow), but news of its length and its eventual shavingdidmake headlines.
And now, once again, Mark Hamill’s beard has been cut and once again it’s generating headlines…mainly because Hamill himself has suggested that the beard will make a return inStar Wars: Episode 9.
This is news because Hamill has recently wrappedStar Wars: Episode 8and this seemingly implies that Luke Skywalker will survive the events of that film and return for the capper of this new trilogy. Of course, Hamill has a tendency to be a bit of a prankster, so this could all be a bunch of misdirection intended to throw us off the scent of a Han Solo-esque demise in the next movie. Then again, letting Luke continue to draw breath would actually be the surprising thing to do after Harrison Ford was run through with a lightsaber by his own son late inThe Force Awakens. Killing a classicStar Warslead once per movie would just get predictable and depressing.
Anyway, Hamill recorded himself shaving his beard and shared it on Twitter. So here you go. Here are 36 seconds ofStar Warsstar Mark Hamill shaving.
Haven’t seen my chin since May ‘15, so#FarewellFacialFur&#ByeByeBeard(at least til#EpisodeIX)@popculturequestpic.twitter.com/gaScz1okk6
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself)July 04, 2025
Of course, the really important part here is the “at least till #EpisodeIX,” but like I said, I’m not prepared to accept this as absolute confirmation of anything quite yet. Anyway, Hamill is also ditching the beard because he’s getting ready to host the new seriesPop Culture Quest, and everyone knows that you can’t host a television programandhave a beard in 2016! I kid, mainly because Hamill makes that beard look good and I wish he would adopt it permanently and always look like he’s one bad day away from using the Force to throw your car through a building.
Star Wars: Episode 8is directed by Rian Johnson and will hit theaters onDecember 15, 2017.Star Wars: Episode 9will be directed byJurassic World’s Colin Trevorrow and will arrive onMay 23, 2019. If Hamill isn’t pulling our legs, he’s going to have that beard off and on for quite some time yet.
