Some of the placing adjustments is that Luke Skywalker, finally depicted as a younger man eager for an escape from his boring desert house, was initially a a lot older character. Luke Skywalker was to be an older army man, presumably known as again into motion by the brand new rebel. The journey may need been the identical, however instructing an older character about how the battle has advanced is sort of a special idea than a younger man studying in regards to the vastness of the galaxy for the primary time. For a lot of drafts, Luke’s identify was some variant of “Annakin Starkiller,” and a few early drafts even noticed the character as a girl.

The Darkish Aspect of the Drive additionally as soon as had a extra colourful identify. It was initially known as the Bogan, which, to this writer’s ear, is much extra evocative than merely calling it “the Darkish Aspect.” The Mild Aspect of the Drive, in the meantime, appears to have all the time remained the identical.

Han Solo, the dandyish and none-too-trustworthy smuggler, was finally a really human-looking character performed by Harrison Ford. In Lucas’ unique model, Han Solo was meant to be an area alien that seemed very very like a frog. Whereas one may have the ability to image such a factor utilizing trendy CGI or movement seize, or maybe in cel-animated type a la “Heavy Steel,” making a frog alien in live-action in 1977 would have required know-how that wasn’t fairly but out there. Han Solo’s sidekick, Chewbacca, was all the time going to be tall, however wasn’t all the time sasquatch-adjacent. Some early idea artwork by Christopher McQuarrie noticed the character as hairless and sporting a tunic, however Lucas finally discovered the surprising inspiration behind Chewbacca, specifically his personal canine.