However, I believe that J.J. Abrams and the Star Wars team were playing the long game by keeping the Luke Skywalker reveal right to the end of the film.
Instead, Luke Skywalker’s return was saved for the final moments, which gave The Force Awakens a rousing conclusion and final shot, and immediately made fans pine for The Last Jedi, too.
Just imagine if within the space of two minutes we suddenly saw Luke Skywalker return after seemingly being missing for years, and then Han Solo die, too.
Again, can’t really argue with Mark Hamill’s logic there.