Believe it or not, Luke Skywalker himself thinks they went too far in the movie. Apparently, when they were filming the Wampa scene, he didn’t know how … um … disarming … his self-defense maneuver would be, as Mark Hamill revealed in a 2017 Tweet on the platform formerly known as Twitter:
“When filming scene I was assured my lightsaber swipe toward camera (creature not on set) would simply singe fur 2 scare him off-Horrified to later see amputation & unnecessary cruelty – Wampa was HUNGRY (not EVIL) – Luke would never do this! #StillAngry2017”
Interesting take and he’s not wrong. The Wampa was just looking for a meal, after all — he wasn’t plotting against the rebels and aligning with Darth Vader or anything. It’s also interesting that the original concept for the scene, or at least the one told to Hamill, was that Luke was only going to singe the fur of the Wampa and then make his escape.
Chopped-off arms are a tradition in “Star Wars” going back to the cantina scene in the very first movie. It makes a great bookend in a film where Luke begins by amputating the arm of an attacking creature and ends with Luke losing his own hand. As Papa George might say, it’s like poetry. It rhymes.
But I like that Hamill is taking a kinder view of Luke here. Now I have to ask where his outrage is for all those poor Womp Rats he bullseyed in Beggar’s Canyon when he was growing up and then later bragged about to a roomful of Rebel pilots. Let’s get #JusticeForWompRats trending!