While Collider post this as a rumour based on decade-old internet images, we can confirm that yes, this scene – a recreation of the climactic battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader on Bespin in The Empire Strikes Back – was fully prepped. Last months Thank The Maker convention saw myself and stunt performer Matt Stirling discuss Episode VII and this scene in particular, which saw Stirling learn the fight choreography from Empire step by step and then tutor a Luke Skywalker double – quite possibly Robert Boulter, who Collider mention in their article – on a closed set for a week.
Onstage Stirling said of the scene, “we recreated the fight, and it was never used. Never, ever used. I put all this effort into it, and it ends up on the cutting room floor, and nobody ever kind of knows about it“, so somewhere there’s a recreation of the most pivotal fight in the saga (and a great reason to release a special edition of The Force Awakens in 2035).
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It’s easy to dismiss this as a rumor or someone trying to get some notoriety on the internet, but the image is more than likely the real deal. First, Boulter’s characterization is exactly the same as Mark Hamill’s in The Empire Strikes Back, with his costume torn and damaged in the same places, and his lightsaber is also the same model used during the production of The Force Awakens. More importantly, though, Boulter was reported to have been cast as young Luke before the movie came out, but, with the scene cut from the final version, he was never formally credited for the role, and his casting became a factoid known mostly by fans.
How exactly Boulter could have played Luke is uncertain. According to what is told in The Force Awakens novelization, Luke’s face is never actually seen, so Boulter was probably just a stand-in and not expected to be fully shown as Luke. The character’s face would probably not be shown, or, even if it was, Boulter’s face would likely end up digitally replaced with Mark Hamill’s. Still, it’s wild to think that Luke Skywalker could have shown up in The Force Awakens just as he was in The Empire Strikes Back.
All six panels of Thank The Maker were filmed (as was AndMore back in June), and while there’s no news of when or where those panels will land, we’ll be sure to point you in the right direction when they do, where you’ll hear Stirling tell the story himself.
