Let's celebrate May the 4th with every 'May the Force' in 'Star Wars' movies
May the Fourth be with you.
Star Wars fans around the world are celebrating what has come to be known as Star Wars Day, thanks to how much “May the Fourth” sounds like the iconic phrase “May the Force be with you.” Lucasfilm and parent Walt Disney have been celebrating this pun-tastic day with special themed events, celebrations, and sales. That got us to wondering: Exactly how many times is “May the Force be with you” actually uttered in the films? So we sat down and watched all nine feature films so far (work, work, work) and started tallying.
The result: “May the Force” has only been said 24 times in the Star Wars live-action films.
Perhaps most surprising is that the character who first said the iconic line wasn’t Obi-Wan Kenobi or Luke Skywalker but the Rebellion leader Jan Dodonna in the 1977 original. And the second person to utter the phrase onscreen is none other than Force-agnostic Han Solo. In fact, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker only ever says the line once — and it’s offscreen, to Lando in The Empire Strikes Back. His sister, Leia, also says the full phrase only once, and that is in The Force Awakens. The person who says it the most? That honor belongs to Rogue One‘s blind hero Chirrut Îmwe, who repeats the variation “May the Force of others be with you” four times offscreen. Another recently introduced character is the runner-up: Vice Admiral Holdo dispenses it three times in The Last Jedi. Meanwhile, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Mace Windu each delivered a “May the Force” twice in the prequel trilogy.
Whether we’ll hear the phrase in Solo: A Star Wars Story later this month remains to be seen. After all, while Han flew from one side of the galaxy to the other and saw a lot of strange stuff, he never saw anything that made him believe there was one all-powerful Force controlling everything.
And for those of you who enjoy the dark side, remember — tomorrow is Revenge of the Fifth.
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