Star Wars 9: Mark Hamill accidentally reveals Luke Skywalker returns

All simply because the actor wanted to shave his impressively grand Skywalker beard off

It's a tough job being the face of the world's biggest franchise.

Specifically, keeping track of the 50,000 Star Wars secrets you've got to keep locked away from the world, lest they cause mass panic and hysteria. There's danger around every corner, and Mark Hamill's quickly learnt that even something as innocuous as shaving his beard can accidentally turn into a major spoiler reveal.

The actor filmed a fun short video of him shaving off his impressive Luke Skywalker beard, as part of his upcoming show Pop Culture Quest for the Comic-Con HQ streaming network. However, the caption for the video rather tellingly joked; "Haven't seen my chin since May '15, so #FarewellFacialFur & #ByeByeBeard (at least til #EpisodeIX)"

So, is that confirmation Luke Skywalker will make his return for Star Wars: Episode IX? Unless Hamill's attempting to double bluff us, that seems like a pretty strong hint his character won't be meeting a sticky end in Episode VIII, and that he's still got an ongoing role to play in the continuing franchise.

Understandably, we know next to nothing about what Episode IX may bring; outside of the fact it'll be directed by Jurassic World's Colin Trevorrow, who's promised to shoot on film and even hinted some filming may take place in actual space.

Star Wars: Episode IX hits cinemas 24 May, 2019.