Star Wars veteran Mark Hamill, known for playing Luke Skywalker across the original and sequel trilogies, shared his thoughts on what sets Star Wars apart from science fiction titles such as Star Trek.
"I have to say that difference between Star Wars and Star Trek to me, is that Trek is classic science fiction, with humans going out to space and encountering aliens," Hamill told Men's Journal. "Star Wars was purposely set in a galaxy far, far away because it is fantasy, not science fiction." The actor went on to say, "I have been asked on multiple occasions about a rivalry between Star Wars and Star Trek, but I have to say I feel like it is really apples and oranges. You can like either or both, or none of them."
Star Wars is at its core a retelling of the classic hero's journey. The world built by George Lucas takes inspiration from a variety of genres. For example, Star Wars: The High Republic's author Charles Soule recently explained that the debut novel Light of the Jedi explored genres such as "disaster," "mystery" and "race-against-time," while The Mandalorian took inspiration from westerns.
Directed and written by George Lucas, Star Wars starred Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Kenny Baker as R2-D2, Peter Mayhew as Chebacca, Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin, James Earl Jones as Darth Vader and Sir Alec Guiness as Obi-Wan Kenobi. All Star Wars sequels, spinoffs and television series are available to stream on Disney+.
(via Men's Journal)