Why Did Mark Hamill Change His Twitter Username?

Mark Hamill first rose to fame for playing the beloved Star Wars character, Luke Skywalker. Then, to further cement his place in pop culture history, he went on to become the best voice actor of the Batman villain, Joker. But people adore Hamill for more than just the characters he plays. He’s also risen to legendary Twitter status with his humor, wit, and hot takes on politics.

For 10 years, he ruled his Twitter account under the handle @HamillHimself. And with over 4.9 million followers on Twitter, the Force of the internet is strong with Hamill. In September 2021, he tweeted his own name and received over 500k likes. Yet, as of March 19, 2022, he changed his username to @MarkHamill. Why the switch?

The Bureaucracy of Twitter

Through his new Twitter username, Hamill revealed the reason for the rebrand. When Hamill originally joined Twitter, back in 2011, another user already had taken his name. This other person did not coincidently share a name with the star, they were just using the name to drive people to their account. Hamill reached out to Twitter, who then closed the imposter’s account, but it would take more than a decade for the Twitter powers that be to grant Hamill the use of his own name. Finally, though, the moment has come. Hamill’s defeated the darkness of the universe once again and come out victorious. And although the alliteration of “Hamill Himself” rolled off the tongue, it must be a relief. It’s no fun to know someone is impersonating you.

Even though the handle has changed, the content and quality of his page won’t. We can still read his heartwarming messages to the LGBTQ+ community, as well as the hilarious burns he makes on GOP politicians. On March 8th, he did both with his response to Florida’s passage of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. In response to a call to action from @OccupyDemocrats to say gay anyway, Hamill filled a tweet with the word “gay” repeating, closing with a rainbow emoji. That tweet received almost 200k likes.

Never change, Mark.

(featured image: Lucasfilm/Disney)