The Force Awakens, the first film in Star Wars’ sequel trilogy, is set around 30 years after Return of the Jedi, the conclusionary film of the original trilogy.
That’s a fact that many of us are familiar with and yet, I’ve never really thought about what that means in regards to the ages of our favourite characters.
Well, one fan has just pointed out that Luke and Leia, for example, would have been 53 years old by the time The Force Awakens got underway.
“Something I haven’t stopped to think about until now … Luke and Leia were 53 at the start of TFA,” Reddit user Anxious_Ride_8837 began.
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“Yes, I know it was filmed longer than 30 years after ROTJ, but from the in-universe perspective, they really aged like Obi-Wan between ROTS [and] ANH.”
It’s a really interesting point actually.
Luke and Leia arguably did look older than 53, but that’s because both Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were.
Carrie was in her late 50s when filming began on The Force Awakens, while Mark was in his early 60s.
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It’s an interesting point though that this mimics the aging of Obi-Wan Kenobi which has always been considered a tad … strange.
In Revenge of the Sith, a 33-year-old Ewan McGregor portrayed Obi-Wan; A New Hope’s iteration was brought to life by a 62-year-old Alec Guinness.
Only 19 years split those two films, so you can see why the process of aging translates as a little odd on screen.
Of course, this is simply due to the fact that this issue wasn’t particularly foreseen given that George Lucas didn’t exactly know Star Wars would end up extending beyond that original trilogy.
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Still, it does feel fitting that Luke and Leia’s onscreen age-up also feels a smidge beyond the kind of aging we’d perhaps expect to see.
Fellow Reddit user Cool-Ad-8804 had something quite fitting to add: “Ah so just about as old as the kids who watched the original trilogy when it released.”
“Such a profound and emotional road it has been,” added RevDaughter.
Well now I’m feeling all nostalgic. So when’s that Rey film coming?
Topics: Star Wars, TV And Film, Disney, Lucasfilm