The Life, Death, and Life Again of the Mighty Chewbacca

I think a major success of George Lucas’ 1977 Star Wars film is the characters who don’t say anything.  It’s hard to take a Jawa or a Tusken Raider seriously, but their strange alien languages make them more genuine, more believable.  R2-D2’s bleeps and bloops, in fact, are the key to his success. “The Star Wars” comic imagines a world where R2 speaks basic (a world which could have been true according to early Star Wars scripts) and the character is ultimately… silly. What saves R2 and Chewie and the whole film is that the words of these characters are left to the imagination. Besides, let’s face it, Chewbacca has a potty mouth.

Chewbacca was based on a dog. Specifically, George Lucas’ Alaskan malamute dog named Indiana who would accompany him on car rides in the early 70s. Imagine a young George Lucas and his dog versus the world. The earliest incarnation of Han and Chewie. People love their pets, partially because pets are constant companions who can’t say anything. They can never insult us or remind us of our many flaws. That’s what we want from Chewbacca- a loyal companion with no character-arc or inevitable betrayal. Like Joey on Friends! He was the one you could always count on (until that Joey-Rachel mess in the later seasons). And like our pets we want Chewbacca to be by our sides forever.

In the Fall of 1999 Lucasfilm, Dark Horse Comics and Del Rey books utilized the writing talents of R.A. Salvatore to murder the Mighty Chewbacca. It was decided that to boost publication sales a sacrifice had to be made. Originally they wanted to axe Luke Skywalker himself, but Lucas said that Luke and the two droids could not be messed with. So instead it was Chewbacca who was sent to the chopping block. The market ploy worked, sales went up. Suddenly no Star Wars character was safe. Though the Galactic Empire never managed to kill a single fan-favorite, the Yuuzhan Vong left a body count in their wake. 

Thus Chewbacca was dead in the hearts of Star Wars fans worldwide. Nothing could bring back out favorite Wookiee-pal. That is until Mickey Mouse came along. Only the sorcerer's apprentice himself was able to erase the crimes of the past. Though it would mean that some "Expanded Universe" fan favorites such as Mara Jade, the Solo Twins, Ben Skywalker, and Grand Admiral Thrawn never existed, it also meant that Chewbacca was resurrected from the dead

Now 38 years after the release of the original “Star Wars”, fans get to see Peter Mayhew back in the co-pilot seat at the ripe old age of 70 (although he is not as old as the 234 year old Wookiee that he portrays) It’s actually amazing to see how many of the original actors and crew have been able to reprise their roles for “The Force Awakens”. Fans have been waiting over 30 years for a true sequel to Return of the Jedi (most fans weren’t even alive in 1983) and now it’s finally happening.

This table shows the age of the original Star Wars cast and crew when Star Wars released in 1977 compared to their current age.

Character	Actor	Age (1977)	Age (2015)
Chewbacca	Peter Mayhew	32	70
Han Solo	Harrison Ford	34	72
Luke Skywalker	Mark Hamill	25	63
Princess Leia	Carrie Fisher	20	58
C3-P0	Anthony Daniels	31	69
R2-D2	Kenny Baker	42	80
Crew	Role	Age (1977)	Age (2015)
John Williams	Composer	45	83
Ben Burtt	Sound Designer	28	66
George Lucas	Apparently nothing this time around	32	70

It is worth noting that many of the new cast members were not yet born when the original Star Wars was released including John Boyega (23), Daisy Ridley (23), Adam Driver (31), and Oscar Isacc (36).

 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens featuring The Mighty Chewbacca hits cinemas in 236 days.