Mark Hamill panics fans after mocking fake death rumours

Mark Hamill caused a stir on social media after responding to false reports of his death in an unorthodox manner, momentarily scaring the life out of some of his fans.

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The Star Wars actor posted a photo of himself which was edited to look like an In Memoriam picture, along with the caption: "Hamill dies: much of nation mourns. GOP: Meh. #DontRushMe."

Hamill has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump and the GOP, otherwise known as the American Republican party.

While the picture clearly states that he is alive and well, at a glance it doesn't look good. Many of his fans tweeted that they had momentarily thought the post to be a confirmation of the false reports.

Bizarrely, it's not the first time that Hamill has responded to false reports of his death.

In June 2017, he sent out a similar tweet in response to a now-deleted message from a fake Huffington Post account, which read: "BREAKING: Mark Hamill actor who played Luke Skywalker dies at 65. #MayTheForceBeWithYou #WildThoughts #Bloomsday #FridayFeeling".

A similar incident occurred in February of last year, too.

In the fake news-laden terrain that is social media, it's best to await confirmation from trusted sources before jumping to conclusions on these things (and remember to always take a closer look at Hamill's tongue-in-cheek tweets).