The twist ending of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ is one of the worst-kept secrets in film history, as its great discovery has become part of popular culture. However, the film does not really end there and the very Mark Hamill has revealed that a scene was added at the last moment so as not to send an overly pessimistic message to the public.
Beware of spoilers for ‘The Empire Strikes Back’
As many of you will remember, the protagonists of the film do not go through their best moment at the end from episode V of the Star Wars saga. Darth Vader has just cut off Luke’s hand, but not before revealing that he is actually Luke’s father, while Han Solo is frozen in carbonite.
Two very hard blows for the Resistance and the film team did not want the public to be left with a bad taste in their mouths, hence the iconic final shot four months later. This is what Hamill has to say about it:
Filmed 4 months after we wrapped principal photography on #IT IS B, it wasn’t a “re-shoot”, it was an added scene. Concerned about the downbeat ending & thorough defeat of the protagonists, they wanted to add an uplifting moment of hope & rejuvenation to reassure the audience. https://t.co/VIMbC3YprU pic.twitter.com/MG41dr8fgu
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) March 8, 2022
Filmed 4 months after we finished filming ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, it was not a reshoot, but an added scene. Concerned about the pessimistic ending and the total defeat of the protagonists, they wanted to add a moment of hope and rejuvenation to put the audience at ease.
In addition, that was not the only change that was introduced in the final moments of the film, because george Luke He wanted to add several shots shortly before its massive release to make it clear that Luke and Leia were aboard a Rebel Fleet medical ship and were not still on the Millennium Falcon, but also to point out where Lando and Chewbacca were.