Once Upon a Time, Obi-Wan Kenobi Didn’t Die in ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’
Alec Guinness in the original ‘Star Wars’ (Lucasfilm)
Star Wars fans are well aware that the saga that takes place in a galaxy far, far away originally looked a little different on the page than it did on the screen. While he was developing the Jedi narrative for the movie that would eventually become known as 1977′s Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope, creator George Lucas tinkered with certain details throughout a series of script drafts.
Peter Mayhew, a.k.a. Chewbacca, has been having some fun recently by tweeting out pages from one of those drafts, dated 1/1/76. This week, Mayhew shared something that some lovers of the franchise may not have realized: that in this early version of Episode IV, Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Alec Guinness) does not perish during that fateful light saber duel with Darth Vader aboard the first Death Star.
#chewscript 027 Obi-wan lives through his fight with Vader. Check it out. @starwars pic.twitter.com/Mrt7SaT3Qc
— Peter Mayhew (@TheWookieeRoars) April 13, 2016
In the pages that Mayhew posted, one can read a version of Star Wars in which Ben Kenobi not only survives his confrontation with Vader, but, with Luke’s help, goes on to slice his way through a swath of Stormtroopers and join his allies on the escaping Millennium Falcon. (i09 also notes that this version of the script describes Vader as a “Sith,” a word that would not actually be used in a Star Wars movie until the prequels were released.)
Technically, this information has been out there for those who were curious enough to look. Starkiller, a website named after Lucas’ original surname for Luke Skywalker, has posted numerous drafts of the Star Wars scripts, including a copy of that January 1976 screenplay that can be downloaded for those eager to read the whole thing.
But in a way though, isn’t it better to hear about what might have been for Obi-Wan directly from Chewie himself?
Watch an original ‘Star Wars’ trailer: