It’s been a fierce topic of debate amongst fans ever since George Lucas’s Special Edition tinkering in 1997: who shot first, Han Solo or Greedo, at the Mos Eisley Cantina in 1977’s Star Wars? But in a new twist to the tale, Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew has revealed the alien bounty hunter wasn’t even present in the original shooting script.
The 7ft tall British actor shared his own copy of the screenplay via Facebook on Tuesday after a 1976 script was unveiled by Canada’s University of New Brunswick, purporting to prove that Lucas always intended to make Solo shoot first (the Special Edition version of Star Wars was criticised after it was retooled to show Greedo as the aggressor). The Mayhew script appears to be an even earlier version, in which Han faces off against somebody named “Allen”. But it does show Solo shooting first.
The script reads: “Suddenly the slimy alien disappears in a blinding flash of light. Han pulls his smoking gun from beneath the table as the other patrons look on in bemused amazement.”
Mayhew wrote: “This should settle the original story of ‘who shot first’, adding: “After all these years, it still feels like I’m leaking a story line.”
The original Star Wars script was rewritten several times during production, with Jabba the Hutt originally appearing as a human being in a scene which never made the final cut - Lucas revived the segue with the assistance of CGI for the Special Edition, presenting Jabba as the monstrous slug-like alien known from 1983’s Return of the Jedi - and the space opera saga’s main hero known as “Luke Starkiller”.
Mayhew is returning to the role of Chewbacca in JJ Abrams’ The Force Awakens, alongside Harrison Ford as Solo, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia and Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. The first new Star Wars movie since Disney’s $4.05bn October 2012 buyout of all rights to the series debuts in cinemas on 18 December.
