Luke Skywalker Star Wars: Who He Is and Who Plays Him

Luke Skywalker is a young farmer from the desert planet Tatooine who is pulled into the war between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire and grows into the Jedi at the center of the Star Wars saga. He first appears in Star Wars (1977), directed by George Lucas, where he finds a message from Princess Leia hidden inside the droid R2-D2 and meets the hermit Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Mark Hamill is billed first as Luke Skywalker in the TMDB credits for Star Wars (1977). In Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), directed by Rian Johnson, Hamill is credited as "Luke Skywalker / Dobbu Scay (voice)". If you want the full cast around him, the star wars cast page lists everyone.

The film credits name no group of twelve Jedi Masters and do not cover Legends material, so the six films are the whole of Luke's story on screen. For the wider group of heroes and villains, see star wars characters.

Luke Skywalker's arc runs through six films: he goes from Tatooine farm boy to Jedi in the original trilogy, then returns as a missing legend and reluctant teacher in the sequel trilogy.

In Star Wars (1977), Imperial troops kill Luke's family, and he joins Obi-Wan Kenobi to carry the stolen Death Star plans to the rebels. He hires Han Solo and Chewbacca to fly them away, helps rescue Leia, and in the final attack turns off his targeting computer, trusts the Force and fires into the exhaust port.

The Empire Strikes Back (1980), directed by Irvin Kershner, sends Luke to the swamp world Dagobah after a vision of Obi-Wan, and there Yoda reluctantly agrees to train him. Luke breaks off that training to save his friends at Cloud City, loses a hand to Darth Vader and learns that Vader is his father.

Between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Luke receives a robotic hand and joins Leia, Lando and the droids to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. Return of the Jedi (1983), directed by Richard Marquand, shows the result: Luke helps free Han from Jabba's palace, Leia kills Jabba, and Luke goes back to Dagobah to finish his Jedi training with Yoda.

Luke then gives himself up on Endor to try to turn Vader back to the light, refuses to kill him even when pushed to anger, and watches Vader destroy the Emperor.

In Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), directed by J.J. Abrams, the First Order is hunting the missing Luke, who disappeared after his students were destroyed, and Rey finds him on a cliff top and holds out his old lightsaber. In Star Wars: The Last Jedi he refuses to help at first, agrees to teach Rey, and admits he once considered killing Kylo Ren. Mark Hamill is credited as Luke in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

Luke's closest ties are with his twin sister Leia Organa, his father Anakin Skywalker, and his teachers Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda.

Luke Skywalker's sister is Leia Organa, his twin, played by Carrie Fisher. In Revenge of the Sith, Padmé Amidala dies after giving birth to the twins, and they are hidden apart: Luke with Owen Lars on Tatooine under Obi-Wan's watch, and Leia with Bail Organa on Alderaan. Our leia organa star wars profile covers her side of the story, and padme amidala star wars covers their mother.

His father began as Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. In Return of the Jedi, Sebastian Shaw is credited as Anakin Skywalker, and the redeemed Anakin appears as a Force spirit alongside Obi-Wan and Yoda. See darth vader star wars for the full character.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Alec Guinness in the original films, tells Luke about the Force and his father, and our obi-wan kenobi star wars page follows him further. Yoda, voiced by Frank Oz, trains Luke on Dagobah. Han Solo and Chewbacca are his friends and crewmates. In the sequels Luke becomes teacher to Rey and former teacher to Kylo Ren.

Luke Skywalker is not shown marrying anyone in the six films.

Luke Skywalker is dead by the end of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, where he dies on the island of Ahch-To after projecting himself across the galaxy to confront Kylo Ren.

On the salt planet Crait, Luke appears before the besieged Resistance and faces Kylo. Kylo realizes Luke is only a Force projection, which buys the Resistance time to escape in the Millennium Falcon. Luke then dies peacefully on Ahch-To after the effort.

Hamill is credited as Luke in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), and Rey ends that film on Tatooine calling herself Rey Skywalker.

Luke Skywalker's best moments are the scenes where he is tested and chooses restraint over force: refusing to kill Vader, the Cloud City duel and the Crait projection. These are my picks, so they are opinion, and I have ranked them in that order.

First is the refusal on the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi, where Luke will not kill Vader even when the Emperor pushes him toward anger. This single decision is the thesis of the original trilogy, because it ends the Sith line by mercy rather than by a duel won, and it pays off everything Yoda and Obi-Wan taught him.

Second is the Cloud City duel in The Empire Strikes Back. Losing his hand and hearing Vader name himself as his father turns a rescue story into a family tragedy, and Luke's choice to drop into the shaft rather than join Vader shows how far he has come since Tatooine.

Third is Crait in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The Force projection is the most inventive use of Luke in any film, since it lets him make a final stand without a single lightsaber strike landing. If you only have time for one scene from the list, start with the second Death Star.