Astonishing 'Star Wars' Facts Even Fans Aren't Aware Of

Updated on September 08, 2022 17:36 PM by Laura Mendes

The Star Wars film series may be the most studied, recorded, and talked-about science-fiction series ever made. Even ardent fans still don't know many things about the movies. There are probably a few jaw-dropping details that will still be news even if you feel yourself a Jedi master of Star Wars trivia—a credentialed historian of all things Skywalker and Solo. No matter how often you've overseen the series, these 25 Star Wars facts can still surprise you.

R2-D2 once spoke English and was a jerk

The R2-D2 that everyone is familiar with and loves only communicates with beeps and whistles, a robot tongue that most of his companions can decipher. R2-D2 spoke in full words in the 1974 first draught of Star Wars.

More troubling still, he was not the endearing idiot he would later develop into. He was a bit of a bully, calling his friend C-3PO a "mindless, useless philosopher" and "You're nothing more than a dim-witted, emotion-brained intellectual."

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The actual return of the Jedi ending saw Luke Skywalker turn evil

The first trilogy comes to a satisfying conclusion. Our favorite qualities make it out alive, and the Dark Side is vanquished. The Making of Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi, the seminal book about how Episode VI was developed, by J.W. Rinzler, however, claims that wasn't the initial concept.

The return of the Jedi's ending was briefly discussed during early plot discussions by writer-director George Lucas as somewhat darker. He presented it to co-author Lawrence Kasdan as he wrote, "Luke removes his mask. The mask is the final item, and when Luke dons it, he declares, "Now I am Vader." Surprise! "Now I will go and annihilate the fleet, and I shall conquer the universe," was the ultimate twist."

Kasdan thought the proposal was great and told his boss, "I think that should happen." Lucas ultimately changed his mind, saying that Luke turning evil was a little too dark for his franchise, which is "for kids."

Yoda was almost a monkey

Yoda was originally going to be played by a simian actor long before master Muppeteer Frank Oz decided to make him using animatronics and puppetry. According to The Making of Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back, they intended to dress up a real monkey in a Yoda suit and mask. There are images of the trained monkey as well as the bizarrely disgusting Yoda mask prototype.

Fortunately, a crew member who had previously worked on 2001: A Space Odyssey noted that the apes used in that film's introduction were a major problem, which was sufficient to persuade Empire's creators to dismiss their Yoda monkey.

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Carrie Fisher slapped Oscar Isaac more than 40 times…on the first day of shooting

In The Last Jedi, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) defies General Leia Organa's (Carrie Fisher) orders, but it's not without repercussions. The moment in which Leia demotes Poe was challenging to get properly, according to Isaac, who said this in a Stephen Colbert interview. As a result, the late actress smacked the younger actor more than 40 times.

Boba Fett first appeared in a country fair parade

Most people think The Empire Strikes Back from 1980 was where the famed bounty hunter Boba Fett first appeared. Hardcore fans know it took place a little earlier, in the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978—and they would also be incorrect. His past goes a little further back.

On September 24, 1978, during the San Anselmo Country Fair parade in California, Boba Fett was first seen by the public. The locals were fortunate enough to receive an early peek at what would eventually become one of Star Wars' most beloved villains because they lived in the same zip code as 52 Park Way, the old Lucasfilm headquarters.

In an interview, Duwayne Dunham, a Lucas associate film editor wearing the suit, remarked that he and a person dressed as Darth Vader "were at the front end of the march." "The entire time, we were in charge. We simply strolled hand in hand down the street "Dunham clarified. "It was kind of funny," He said, "I don't think any press outside of the San Anselmo daily covered it in any way," after recalling that there weren't many people in the procession.

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Samuel L. Jackson had his lightsaber engraved with a bad word

Samuel L. Jackson asserted that he still held the purple lightsaber that his character, Mace Windu, used in some epic battles in the Star Wars prequels during an interview on BBC's The Graham Norton Show. The most startling discovery, though? What Jackson asserted to have written on his lightsaber is inappropriate for young children.

But it was undoubtedly obvious to anyone who had followed Jackson's career for a while. As you may recall, Jackson starred in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction in 1994 as Jules Winnfield, a sophisticated hitman whose wallet is embroidered with the same phrase.

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The original Darth Vader is banned from all Star Wars events

James Earl Jones, who supplied the voice for the most infamous antagonist in the series, is the first term that springs to mind when we think of Darth Vader. But the person wearing the disguise was a completely different individual—a British bodybuilder named David Prowse. Prowse also doesn't appear to be among Lucas's favorite people.

Prowse stated on his now-defunct website that he was prohibited from attending any "Lucasfilm connected events," which include conventions and other Star Wars activities. Prowse claimed that when he asked for clarification, he only responded that he had "burned too many bridges between Lucasfilm and myself." Lucas chose not to comment, although many theories regarding the conflict exist. Many think Prowse expressed his annoyance at learning that another actor, Sebastian Shaw, would be utilized for the Vader unmasking sequence in an overly vocal manner.

Adam Driver recorded his last lines as Kylo Ren in his closet

The Rise of Skywalker's sound editor, Matthew Wood, claims that because the screenplay was changed so late, he had to go to Adam Driver's house to record him saying a few new, crucial lines in a pretty low-tech setting. Driver played the villain Kylo Ren in the most recent trilogy. According to The Week, Wood remarked on the SoundWorks Collection podcast, "I ended up opening up one of his closets where he had all of his clothes, and I simply shoved the cases out of the way and said, 'Hang your head in here.'"

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**The first Star Wars almost forced an actual war**

Lucas found the ideal place in Tunisia to create the lonely desert planet of Tatooine. He overlooked the possibility that even a small amount of film output could cause social and political unrest. Libya, governed by Muammar Gaddafi at the time, and Tunisia share a border. According to reports, Gaddafi threatened the Tunisian government, saying the war would inevitably break out if they didn't shrink a military truck from the Libyan border.

The question "military vehicle" was a Jawa Sandcrawler. Since causing an international crisis isn't the best way to promote a movie, Lucas consented to move the prop.

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Chewbacca had to be saved from bear hunters

Filming in the Redwood forests of Northern California to replicate the forest moon of Endor for Return of the Jedi must have been a piece of cake compared to the cold tundras and desolate deserts the Star Wars actors and crew had to endure. The exception is Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew. He had to be constantly guarded by bodyguards wearing colorful vests throughout the several-month shoot to keep hunters away.

That's because Mayhew might have passed for a bear if he had been dressed appropriately. More amusingly, however, was the fact that the bodyguards had to defend the actor from those who were reported to be looking for Bigfoot—yes, that Bigfoot, the legendary ape-like creature said to be hidden in the Pacific Northwest. We may have been tempted to dismiss this as another urban legend, but Mayhew personally verified the account on Reddit.

Sir Alec Guinness, who played Obi-Wan, hated Star Wars

Before accepting the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the famous actor, Sir Alec Guinness was accustomed to portraying Shakespeare. And many sources claim that he detested it. Guinness lamented that "new garbage conversation arrives me every other day on bits of pink paper—and none of it makes my character evident or even palatable" in a letter to pals that Mashable was able to get.

In his memoirs, A Positively Final Appearance, Guinness also recounts a story of a young admirer who requested an autograph and said he had seen Star Wars 100 times. He consented to sign the kid's book, but only on the condition that the kid never viewed the movie again. Guinness said that the man "broke into tears." I hope the young man, now in his thirties, is not immersed in a world of outdated, juvenile banalities.

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There are several direct references to The Godfather throughout the franchise

Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas are close friends who worked on The Godfather. Several key facets of Star Wars bear the imprint of the movie, starting with the organized crime-inspired working relationship between Han and Jabba. However, the scene in Return of the Jedi where Leia strangles Jabba with her chain may be the most potent visual allusion to the mafia classic. According to the official Star Wars website, this is a deliberate comparison to the death of Luca Brasi (Lenny Montana).