I’m sorry but, at best, Mark Hamill has a good face…for voiceover work.
OK, so here’s the rub. Many well-known actresses auditioned for Princess Leia, many have aged much better than Carrie Fisher. If you’ve seen the audition tapes, however, it’s quite clear that only Fisher was able to speak lines filled with bizarre and made-up character and place names with any kind of understanding. Most of the girls just sound lost, or like a foreigner learning to speak phonetically. Fisher was able to deliver the lines like she knew what she was talking about while acting with the calm confidence a princess should have. Of the actresses I saw that were the right age and aged well, I figured Linda Hamilton would have the next best delivery. I’m not convinced overall that anybody else could really pull it off besides Fisher.
For Luke Skywalker, you have to cast for a naive farmboy, so a chiseled face with a strong jaw, and an imposing physique is probably not the way you want to go. Those types of faces age well. Kurt Russell auditioned for Han Solo, not Luke. Likewise, Reeve and Swayze would make better Hans than Lukes. The reason I picked Bruce Greenwood is that he had dreamboat looks without being overly masculine.
You’ll all probably hate me for this, but what about Arnold Schwarzenegger for Luke 
He hasn’t aged all that badly, hahaha.
Not even Sissy Spacek?
Too young. He was born in 1966, so he’d have been ten years old or so during filming.
James Spader.
Meryl Streep looked the right age, and was pretty unknown at the time. I think she’d done mostly stage productions at that point. Deer Hunter wasn’t until 78. I don’t love her for Leia, but clearly she can do anything.
Ed Harris and Meryl Streep. Man, that’s a sophisticated Star Wars…
I didn’t know that. But it was probably a mistake for him to try for the Solo role. Russell was 26 at the time (Ford was 35) and was known for playing teenage characters. He probably couldn’t have sold himself as an older and roguish character like Han Solo. But I think he could have done a good job playing a somewhat younger character like Luke and would have had a chance to “grow up” in the role as the sequels were made.
And he’s back in movies.
Seems to me that Reeve did a great impression of a naive farmboy as Clark Kent.
Keep in mind we’re talking Patrick Swayze back in the seventies.
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Regardless, Swayze died in 09. Not the longevity we’re looking for.
Reeve and Swayze have the disadvantage of being dead, which would have made it difficult for them to reprise the roles in any new SW movies.
Apparently you didn’t grow up watching farm boys buck hay and haul irrigation pipes. You could always tell the farm kids in my high school because they were the ones with the grown up physique. Chiseled face and good shoulders sounds exactly right for a young man who has had to work his tail off day in and day out just to make ends meet.
Christopher Reeve or Kurt Russel both sound like good picks to me. How old was Susan Sarandon in '77? She seems like someone who could have done a great Leia.
Luke didn’t work he just told the droids what to do
Two characters who have aged gracefully: Miss Piggy and Bert. Though Miss Piggy might fear typecasting after Pigs in Space.
I say Bruce Willis. Yeah, that’s right.
He’s the right age (born 1955), looked the part at the time, and has certainly aged well. Sure, he would have played Luke as a smartass, but is that such a bad thing?
It’s a better thing for Han Solo than for Luke, is all.
Holy fuck, if I ever get my hands on a time machine, I’m going back and making him take the role.
“Han Solo. I’m Captain of… the Millennium FALLcon. Chewie here… tells me you’re lookin’… for passage… to the Alderaan system?”
Except that the farmboy in that movie was played by Jeff East. Here is how that farmboy looks today.
