25 amazing facts, myths and trivia about the original Star Wars films

25 facts, myths and trivia about the original Star Wars trilogy

There are many cool things about the original Star Wars trilogy. Boba Fett, Jabba the Hutt and the Millennium Falcon are but three.

The lore and legend of Star Wars that George Lucas created goes beyond far what you see on the screen as these 25 pieces of trivia and myth show...

1. In A New Hope, Leia was kept captive on the Death Star in cell number 2187. This was a deliberate choice as 2187 is the year that the Lucas directed film THX 1138, was set. This number was later given to Finn in The Force Awakens.
2. Ewoks were a late addition to the Star Wars mythology in Jedi. Their part in the story was to be played by the Wookiees, but by the time Lucas and his production partners sat down to write Return of The Jedi, they realized that, because Chewbacca could fly the Millennium Falcon, repair the ship and operate pretty much any weapon or machine in the known universe, they'd made the Wookiees too technologically advanced for the plot. That's why you may have seen some Ralph McQuarrie concept art out there where the Wookie's home in the trees looked like the Ewoks!
3. Is Wedge Antilles really Obi-Wan Kenobi's Uncle? Yes, from a certain point of view. Denis Lawson who played Wedge Antilles is the real life uncle of a rather famous actor called Ewan McGregor!
4. In Jedi, listen very carefully as Darth Vader picks up the Emperor and throws him down the Death Star shaft. This is the only time the Jedi theme music plays over a shot of Vader, reflecting his return to the light side of the Force.
5. Myth - The Wampa was created to allow for Luke's rearranged face after a car accident. Mark Hamill was injured prior to the filming of The Empire Strikes Back. This is fact. The myth is that due to his face being rearranged, Lucas had to re-write the Hoth events to include the Wampa attacking Luke to account for his injury. The truth is that no accommodations were made for Hamill’s face.
6. After appearing in Jedi, Wedge becomes the only X-wing pilot character (apart from Luke) who survives all three major battles in the films. Indeed Wedge even turned up for the biggest battle of them all in The Rise of Skywalker.
7. Anakin Skywalker really is the ‘Chosen one’. While Yoda and Obi-Wan may have thought a mistake had been made in the reading of the prophecy, Anakin was the one who actually killed Sith Lord Palpatine by throwing him down the Death Star’s reactor shaft in Jedi and thus restored balance to the Force. Well he was until Rey showed up anyway...
8. The famous reveal of the father and son relationship between Vader and Luke in The Empire Strikes Back is often misquoted as "Luke, I am your father". The line is actually "No, I am your father".
9. Admiral Ackbar's "It's a trap," which is arguably the most famous line in the ROTJ, was, incredibly, not in the screenplay. The line was scripted as "It's a trick!" and was later changed post-filming after a test screening because let's face it, "it's a trick" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
10. While Return of the Jedi saw Luke return the favour to Vader and cut his arm off, the idea for it actually came from the expanded universe novel, ‘Splinter of the Mind's Eye’. This book was intended to be turned into a sequel to Star Wars but when that movie became so popular, the idea was abandoned. Vader was actually the only Star Wars film character to lose an arm three times! And both his legs as well. Obi Wan Kenobi got 3 of his limbs in Revenge of the Sith!
11. James Earl Jones is famed for providing the voice for Vader however he didn't do the famous breathing effect. This was done by Ben Burt placing a microphone inside the mouth piece of a breathing apparatus and recording it being used.
12. Vader's suit and 'look' was inspired by the Nazi fashion. 
13. The late and great John Wayne's voice was used in ANH - an old recording was manipulated and used for the Imperial spy Garindan - that's the guy with the big black nose that informs the Stormtroopers as to Luke and company's whereabouts. It's quite a cool bit of trivia when you understand that Wayne's The Searchers had a strong influence on the movie.
14. Leia's character has her own musical theme titled "Princess Leia's Theme". It is represented by the musical leitmotif method which is famously used across the films. The piece was composed by John Williams and was used several times. It first appeared in A New Hope, heard when Princess Leia is captured by the evil Sith Lord, Darth Vader. Later, it surfaces as R2-D2 plays her holographic message to Obi-Wan Kenobi. 
15. George Lucas at one stage considered using the great Orsen Welles as the voice actor for Darth Vader.
16. Myth - Lucas had 12 films all mapped out before the first Star Wars was released. That’s the legend but the mythology of it has grown over the years. The nutshell is that Lucas wrote a great deal of material when he was developing his little sci-fi adventure. Based around the so called “Journal of Whills”, Lucas script eventually was cut up and Star Wars as we know it was filmed. It was not until Empire Strikes Back came out that the term Episode 5 was mentioned officially. Lucas’s grand vision was actually pieced together over several years in very broad strokes. The 12 or 9 films as most people know of were never fully scripted but were largely imaginings of Lucas that were eventually firmly realized well after 1977. The story about the novel, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye effectively confirms this. Well this hand written vision by George totally proves it (to the right). Indeed he had A New Hope at 6. 
17. Princess Leia never actually gets to 'meet'Obi Wan Kenobi. She sees him from afar when she's escaping the Death Star and Obi Wan is about to let Darth Vader kill him but that's it. Unless you count Obi Wan being present for her birth in Revenge of the Sith...
18. Jedi was originally going to be called Revenge of the Jedi until Lucas decided that Jedi do not seek revenge. This was quite late in the production so there was a lot of promotional gear with the title already printed on it. 
19. Rumor has it that Carrie Fisher had a massive drug problem during the filming of Return of the Jedi. Cocaine was apparently her powder of choice. Apparently. OK, there is no apparently, in Jedi you can see she wears and extra long finger nail which is just a perfect instrument to assist with the distribution of nose candy up the nose. That would explain this see though dress she wore!
20. Fisher did however admit she had an affair with Harrison Ford during the filming of ANH. This was from her book The Princess Diarist.
21. Darth Vader was referenced in the film Back to the Future by Marty McFly as being from the planet Vulcan. No one was sure who was more upset - Star Wars fans or Trekkies!
22. Princess Leia was subject to one of the most famous ad libs in cinema history - that being Han Solo's response to her declaration of love - "I know". Harrison Ford apparently made it up at Irvine Kershner's suggestion to improvise. It was ad-libbed in the sense they worked it out on set and 'off script'. What was the original line? "I'll be back"! Leia got to return the line in Jedi during the Battle of Endor.
23. A group of E.T. made a cameo appearance in The Phantom Menace. E.T was of course a Spielberg film which featured a Yoda costume in the Halloween scene!
24. If you asked the average Star Wars fan what was Leia’s home world, they would be correct in answering the planet Alderraan and they could go to the head of the class. If you asked the most hard core fan, they might also quickly add that Leia and Luke were actually born at a medical facility on Polissa Massa – if you’ve seen Revenge of the Sith you might recall that is where Obi Wan Kenobi took the injured Padme for medical assistance.
25. Bonus fact - Darth Vader has only 12 minutes of screen time!