Chewbacca Was Nearly Forced To Wear Pants, See Him In Jorts
Are you ready to see the design for a fashionable Chewbacca?
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When you think of Chewbacca, you think of the lovable “walking carpet” who is as good at co-piloting as he is at snapping limbs. Nowhere in that mental picture was a pair of jorts needed or welcome. Until now, of course. Now, we can’t unsee them.
Beloved Star Wars actor Mark Hamill recently took to Twitter to share a fun fact about Chewbacca’s conceptualization during the production of A New Hope. According to the Luke Skywalker actor, the people overseeing the film’s production were extremely concerned about Chewbacca not wearing pants. You can check out Hamill’s hilarious tweet below:
I don’t know about you, but I am so thankful that George Lucas and his crew did not go with these designs. The one on the left looks absolutely horrifying, and the image on the right looks like he needs to be holding a banjo rather than a blaster.
Chewbacca’s history is incredibly rich, and his involvement in the saga’s overarching plot is actually pretty significant. A Wookiee warrior who fought alongside the Republic in the Clone Wars before joining the Rebel movement during the Galactic Civil War, Chewbacca has been one of the greatest constants in the Star Wars series. He is one of the only characters to have participated in the franchise’s three major conflicts, with his arc effectively coming to an end in the ill-fated Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. He survives the Skywalker Saga and comes away from each conflict an even more celebrated and decorated hero.
But the popular Wookiee’s fate in other Star Wars stories is much more tragic. In the Expanded Universe canon (now official called Star Wars Legends) Chewbacca dies during the first year of the protracted Yuuzhan Vong War. He is crushed by the moon Dobido when it collides with the planet Sernpidal, but only after he saves Han and Leia Solo’s youngest son, Anakin, from certain death. Chewie’s sacrifice drives a wedge between Han and Anakin, and continues to impact the former for the rest of his life. Honestly, though, did Han really expect Chewie to not go down like a badass? Expecting anything less would be selling the heroic Wookiee short.
Between news of the fan-favorite Sith Lord Darth Revan potentially scoring a spot in an upcoming Disney+ series to the ongoing Gina Carano fiasco, Star Wars news has the potential to be incredibly positive or unbelievably negative. Luckily, imagery of a jorts-rockin’ Chewbacca falls into the former category, even if both of his original designs look atrocious.
I am thankful these two sketches never made it into the Star Wars we ended up getting, but it definitely begs the question: What else was changed last minute to avoid terrifying moviegoers? Did Luke originally sport a mullet? Or a perm? We probably will not ever know every change that was made, but that is okay. All we know is that Star Wars: A New Hope is one of the greatest science fiction films ever made, and that should be more than enough.
