ORLANDO — Amidst the hoopla at this weekend’s Star Wars Celebration, there was a bit of therapy.

After promoting Star Wars: The Last Jedi and taking part in a 40th anniversary panel, Mark Hamill took time to remember his Star Wars co-star Carrie Fisher in a public tribute that found him sharing anecdotes of his late friend with fans at the Orlando Convention Center.

It’s “part of the process that I need to move on,” Hamill said. “I’m trying to use you as therapy to get through this.”

Calling Fisher — who died suddenly last December — a “treasure,” Hamill recounted his 40-year friendship with the actress.

“It’s impossible to think of her in the past tense,” he said.

There were times, Hamill hinted, that their relationship veered into romantic territory. They even kissed once.

“Sometimes, we wanted to go in that direction,” he said. “As attracted as I was to her, I couldn’t handle her as a girlfriend. She’s was high maintenance. Part of me did fall in love with her. I think every guy ... I was under her spell.”

Hamill recounted meeting her for the first time in London and told stories of visiting with Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds and attending lavish parties in Hollywood.

“I was the only one I’d never heard of,” he quipped.

Between sharing humorous stories of how Fisher impacted his professional life and the Star Wars Saga (“She made Skywalker and Solo look like chumps”), Hamill shared video clips from the series’ creator George Lucas, Last Jedi director Rian Johnson and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy.

Fisher’s Return of the Jedi co-star Warwick Davis also spoke lovingly of the actress briefly onstage.

But the night belonged to Hamill as he worked through his grief, nearly breaking down when he read a letter he wrote shortly after her death.

“I’m mad,” the actor said, his voice cracking. “She should be here. She deserved to be here.”

Hamill also mused on the roles Fisher might have tackled in the future — post-Star Wars.

“She was at the point in her career where she could reap the benefits of being an elderly character actor.”

They weren’t always close, he conceded. They went years without seeing each other, but reuniting for The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi allowed them to “reset” their friendship.

As they aged, they joked about their own mortality, with Hamill saying that Fisher promised to heckle his funeral if he died first.

He even imagined how Fisher would be viewing his tribute to her.

“When I think of her, she’s looking down from the celestial stratosphere with that sly smile on her face, as she lovingly extends me the middle finger,” Hamill said. “That’s Carrie.”

But it’s her onscreen legacy that will remain for decades to come, he said.

“Wait until you see her in The Last Jedi,” Hamill promised fans. “You’re going to love her.”

Twitter: @markhdaniell

Mdaniell@postmedia.com