My son had barely started first grade when Star Wars became the talk of his classroom. You name it, his classmates had the merch for it: Backpacks, lunchboxes, keychains, shirts. If I remember correctly, we even attended a couple of Star Wars-themed birthday parties that year. He was chomping at the bit to watch.
I Told Mark Hamill That My 8-Year-Old Roots for Darth Vader Over Luke Skywalker
The hero of ‘Star Wars’ had thoughts
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Published Apr 17, 2026
Courtesy of the LEGO Group
Lucasfilm
File under a parenting moment my husband in particular had been waiting for: As a family, we cued up the films and watched them in succession. My son was not only gripped by the plot twists and the AT-ATs and the light sabers, he quickly glommed on to a favorite character: Darth Vader. Much to our surprise, he had turned to the Dark Side.
Was it a bit worrisome that he was cheering on the villain? (He’s 8 years old now, but still does to this day!) Thanks to the LEGO Group, I had the chance to ask the one person with a pretty qualified opinion on the matter: The one, the only Mark Hamill, who also played the hero of the Star Wars franchise, Luke Skywalker.
Hamill partnered with the LEGO Group to serve as its J.E.D.I.—i.e. their Junior Executive Director of Information—to help select fans tap his knowledge when it comes to the creative possibilities of engaging with their new Star Wars-themed Smart Play sets. The fact that my son prefers Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter to Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing? That’s just part of the joy, he says.
“It’s fun to be the bad guy because bad guys make things happen,” Hamill told me. “I’ve played good guys and bad guys and while you love the support and cheers you get as the protagonist, you also love getting the hisses and boos that, if you’re doing your job right, come as the villain.”
As for my 8-year-old? “It’s probably just the mood that he’s in. In a year or two, he might change his mind and go to the light side.” Hamill adds that this is also a perk of the Star Wars Smart Play sets: The ability to experiment. “That’s the whole point of it. [This type of play] means you can come up with storylines that aren’t in the movies, too. Really, you can do anything you want with them.”
If that means that the villain wins in my son’s version of the Star Wars narrative? “That just shows what a great imagination he has,” Hamill said.
