We all know Luke Skywalker as the hopeful farm boy who became the greatest Jedi in the galaxy. But what if I told you that in George Lucas’s original script, Luke wasn’t even called Skywalker—and he wasn’t exactly the good guy either? That’s right, early drafts had him as Luke Starkiller, and the story took a much darker path. He was aggressive, battle-hardened, and in some versions, even leaned toward the dark side.
This isn’t just some random fan theory either. It came straight from Lucas’s old notes and has even been talked about by Mark Hamill himself.
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Mark Hamill Confirms Lucas Originally Had Darker Plans for Luke
Most longtime fans know Luke Skywalker’s original name was Luke Starkiller—a way more intense version of the hero we ended up with. And while the name change has been explained here and there over the years, Mark Hamill himself finally laid out how it happened during an interview on the Politickin’ podcast.
Hamill said that while filming A New Hope, they had already shot the scene where Luke rescues Princess Leia from her cell—complete with the line, “I’m Luke Starkiller. I’m here to rescue you.” But a few days later, that same scene popped up again on the call sheet. Confused, he asked what was going on, and someone told him they were reshooting it because his name had been changed. When he found out it was now Skywalker, his reaction was, “Skywalker? Oh my God… like fire.”
He also talked about how the original script he received was titled The Adventures of Luke Starkiller, Taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars. That version of Luke was a much tougher character—more warrior than farm boy—and the Starkiller name fit that tone. But Lucas eventually decided the name sounded too aggressive, especially for a main character meant to inspire hope.
Hamill added that back in the day, focus groups were even unsure about the word “Wars” being in the title at all. So the fact that the name “Skywalker” stuck—and became such a huge part of pop culture—is kind of incredible in hindsight.
In the end, swapping out Starkiller for Skywalker did more than just clean up a name—it helped soften the tone of the story and reshaped Luke into the wide-eyed, idealistic hero who would go on to define the heart of the entire saga.
What the Original Script Revealed About Luke Starkiller’s Darker Path
So let’s talk about what Star Wars almost looked like before it became Star Wars. Back in 1975, George Lucas wrote a second draft of the script called The Adventures of the Starkiller, Episode I: The Star Wars, and yeah—the title alone tells you just how different things were.
In this version, Luke Starkiller wasn’t the young, unsure farm boy we met in A New Hope. Instead, he was a trained Jedi warrior from the start—already in the fight, already hardened by war. And get this: Luke wasn’t even the main focus at first. The story originally centered around an older Jedi general named Kane Starkiller (Luke’s father), and it followed his sons, Luke and Deak, as they fought against the oppressive Empire and their deadly enemies, the Black Knights of the Sith.
The Force was still a thing, but it was referred to as the “Force of Others,” and lightsabers were called “lazer swords.” There was also a powerful artifact called the “Kiber Crystal” (yes, with an “i”) that could amplify Force powers, which would eventually inspire kyber crystals later in the canon. A lot of these early ideas were raw and chaotic, but you can see the DNA of the final trilogy starting to take shape.
Luke, in this draft, wasn’t a character on a coming-of-age journey—he was already in the thick of it, battle-ready and aggressive. The tone was more brutal, almost more like a space samurai war drama than the mythic adventure we ended up getting.
Looking back, it’s wild how many elements from this draft either got reworked or recycled later. The Kiber Crystal inspired later lore, the Starkiller name came back in The Force Unleashed, and some of the darker themes carried into characters like Anakin and Kylo Ren. But man, this original Luke? He was intense. He was designed to be a soldier first, a Jedi second—and that version of the story would’ve taken the galaxy in a very different direction.
Starkiller Lived On, Just Not as Luke
Even though George Lucas ended up dropping the name Starkiller for Luke, that name didn’t disappear. Years later, it came back in a big way, this time attached to one of the most powerful Force users we’ve ever seen: Galen Marek, a.k.a. Starkiller, from The Force Unleashed.
In the game, Starkiller is Darth Vader’s secret apprentice—raised in the shadows, trained to hunt down Jedi, and so powerful he could literally pull a Star Destroyer out of the sky. He was raw, angry, and full of rage, which made him feel like the dark version of Luke that never made it into the original trilogy.
And just when you think the name had run its course, it shows up again—this time on a massive scale. Starkiller Base, the planet-destroying weapon in The Force Awakens, is yet another nod to the original concept. It’s like the name refused to die, coming back not as a character, but as a symbol of overwhelming power and destruction.
So yeah, even though Luke never became Starkiller, the legacy of that name is still baked into Star Wars.