Maybe we should've seen it coming, but still, I did not have 'William Shatner stokes flames of a Star Wars fan fight' on my 2025 bingo card. Shatner, the man who helped make Star Trek what it is today, has always been a bit of a sarcastic man. He's had a lot of fun with social media since its inception and he can spend hours a day tweeting, reading, and replying to fans all over the world.
Usually, his takes on subjects are nuanced and informed. Other times he's just being a sarcastic goof, but once in a while, as we all fall into from time to time, Shatner says something head-scratching. That's what ended up happening recently when Shatner opted to talk about Star Wars and Luke Skywalker.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Shatner tweeted a Vanity Fair headline that said "'Of course' Luke Skywalker is gay, confirms Mark Hamil..." Shatner then followed that up by mentioning Skywalker's long-time extended universe romantic pairing in Mara Jade. In the extended universe, which picked up steam after Star Wars VI: The Return of The Jedi, and heading into 1997's Shadows of the Empire, Mara Jade was a villain turned romantic interest for Luke Skywalker.
The couple was a big part of the extended universe and kept a lot of fans in the franchise heading into the prequel trilogy and all the way until the Disney acquisition of the franchise, which seemingly ended the continuity of the extended universe.
Yet for Shatner, he instead opted to post a purposefully misleading headline, all to tack on a snarky and frankly unfunny joke about Mara Jade, causing the character of Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamil, and even Shatner himself to trend on Twitter (x) all day on Thursday. Of course, this reignited arguments in his comment section and others.
For those SWs fans who are trying to tell me Disney ruined everything: I assume you are referring to Mara Jade?
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) February 13, 2025
Hamill actually ruined it for you when he revealed Luke was gay. 👇🏻 Mara, being struck from SWs Canon, was part of her annulment agreement from the Force. 😑 pic.twitter.com/lnQWpFRBN8
The thing is, the headline is purposefully misleading. In the Vanity Fair article that Shatner referenced, which is nine years old by the way, Hamil doesn't confirm Luke Skywalker as being gay, but says that the character can be interrupted in any way the viewer wants, telling Vanity Fair;
"...fans are writing and ask all these questions, 'I'm bullied in school... I'm afraid to come out'. They say to me, 'Could Luke be gay?' I'd say it is meant to be interpreted by the viewer... If you think Luke is gay, of course he is. You should not be ashamed of it. Judge Luke by his character, not by who he loves.”
Now, it's unclear whether or not that Shatner knew this would rile up the fans, or if he even knew that the headline was purposefully vague and misleading. Still, it's a little hilarious to see Shatner stoking the flames of an online debate by just randomly dropping an article from nine years ago.
If I may be so bold, that's very much something James T. Kirk would've done to either win the day or just screw with someone who annoyed him.