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Agreed on this. I don't think any of the old actors can. I think they all need to be in an auxiliary role for this movie to be better than the prequels. At least two of them (probably Han and Leia) shouldn't carry over to the 8th and 9th. I think they should be there, but you can accomplish a lot more from Hand and Leia's death than you can be keeping them around for 3 movies. I think you can keep Luke for 2 movies, but it has to be done right, and the younger actors have to be the clear protagonists.
I personally don't like the idea of a Dumbledore-esque Luke in the dark-side dabbles, but I do in that he is not the focus of the movies, especially early on. He is kind of a mystical figure that they discover more and more about even after he is dead. Actually, ESPECIALLY after he is dead. Some of the same things can happen with Luke. I think that is why the new characters shouldn't be directly related to any of the 3. It would allow them to discover Luke/Luke's past 30 years over the course of the movie as they are trying to accomplish whatever their goal is. I definitely don't think Luke should have kids. Han and Leia having a kid that is a protagonist is fine, especially if Luke has been a Hermit, etc. because then Luke will still be mysterious. I still haven't decided if I want a new Jedi Academy to be already up and running or if that only happens as a result of some emergence of evil in the first one.
What I hope they avoid is ruining all mystery by having everyone still friends and have kept up with each other the past 30 years. The only way they can get away with that, IMO, is killing off some of these familiar characters early. That way the movie is still about the new adventure/plot lines. If you fall into the trap of Luke having the Jedi Academy (even a small one) running over the past years, etc. you have to try a lot harder to make the story less about him/that and more about the new characters and their adventure.
I didn't catch the Dumbledore thing. HP stole enough from SW that maybe it's time to return the favor.
I agree that Hamill carrying the movie would be a stretch. In my pitch, I think you could actually have Luke go into his imprisonment pretty early. In that case, his role would mostly be a Hannibal-type role, but in reverse; the villain coming to the hero for assistance. His old friend/new nemesis visiting him in his cell a few times through the film, needing something that Luke has. Some bit of information about his students, or a bit of knowledge of the future that he has seen.
I had thought of an angle where Luke is a Paul Atreides type, knowing the future and trying to change it or protect people from it, but I think that gets messy too easily. Not that JJ (or Star Wars) has a problem with plot holes, but prescience is a tricky narrative element.
Just in the back of my mind, I do have this thought: Isn't Hamill exactly the type of guy, and this the exact type of role, that has the potential for an out-of-nowhere outstanding performance? I'm not sure that JJ is the guy to get that out of an actor, though.
