One of the most disappointing things about Star Wars: The Force Awakens is that it conformed we'll never see Luke Skywalker and his old friend Han Solo reunite, unless Harrison Ford decides to return for a flashback. But fans weren't the only ones who didn't like this idea. Mark Hamill was also sad that he couldn't reconnect with old friend on screen. So much so that he even came up with his own idea on how the first sequel in over thirty years should have ended. It would have seen the holy trinity of Luke, Han and Leia all present for Solo's big dash off into the Force Ghost world.
While Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher will be back in The Last Jedi, Harrison Ford's presence in a flashback has not been confirmed, and as any fan worth his weight in plush Bantha toys knows, poor Han Solo took one to the heart in helping his son Ben crossover to the Dark Side, so the idea of a reunion featuring the three is out of the questin. At least where the current timeline is concerned. A set photo shared by Oscar Isaac does indicate that Luke and Leia will have a much-needed meeting the minds in Star Wars 8, but Mark Hamill wanted the core cast back together a little sooner.
Mark Hamill recently revealed that he'd conceited his own Star Wars: The Force Awakens ending in his head, and was disappointed when he read how the actual story was going to careen. He tells this alternate ending, allowing fans to make their own decision on whether or not it would have been better.
In Hamill's version of the story, everything is the same leading all the way up to the moment where Kylo Ren pulls his lightsaber out and pushes it through his father's chest. Instead of staying secluded on Ahch-To, where Rey eventually finds him, Luke would have arrived in time to witness his best freind's untimely demise. Hamill says this to https://www.rottentomatoes.com|Rotten Tomatoes about his alternate ending.
"When I was reading [the script], I thought 'If Leia is trying to mentally contact me and she's not successful, she'll rush to [Han's] aid. She'll get close to him and then get into some dire situation and that's when I show up for a big YAY! [After] I save her life, then we rush to Han and are in the same position that Rey and Finn and Chewie are. Too late to save him, but witness it. Because that would carry so much emotional resonance into the next film. For us. His wife. His best friend. To witness [Han's death]. Instead of two characters who have known him for, what? Twenty minutes."
Many fans expected something like this to happen. Though it never did, relegating Luke to a one minute cameo in The Force Awakens just before end credits rolled. As it stands, Leia didn't even hug Chewbacca at the end of the movie, instead comforting Rey, someone she barely knew, about her ex-husband's death. Even J.J. Abrams has expressed his regret at that particular decision.
As it now stands, there are rumors that Harrison Ford did return to the set of The Last Jedi to shoot a secret flashback scene that takes place before Luke Skywalker exiled himself, giving Han Solo and the Jedi Master the reunion everyone waited 40 years for but never got. This scene hasn't been confirmed, but we do know that The Last Jedi will have more flashbacks than any Star Wars movie before it. So, fingers crossed.