20 pieces of trivia you need to know about Star Wars

HOLLYWOOD, CA – MARCH 08: Mark Hamill is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 8, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)

The many incarnations of Luke Skywalker

Let’s face it. Star Wars is a family affair. The Skywalkers are the space Kardashians, if the Kardashians also had mind powers (which, to be honest, are we sure they don’t?).

From the moment we met him as a whiny teenager on Tatooine, Star Wars has been Luke Skywalker’s story, but we almost didn’t get to meet him at all. At least, not in his current incarnation.

In the shooting script, Luke’s name was Luke Starkiller, but this was changed to Skywalker during production. According to Mark Hamill, who plays Luke, he even filmed the rescue of Leia still saying “I’m Luke Starkiller, I’m here to rescue you.”

CinemaBlend point to a quote from George Lucas in which he says that he changed the name because he feared it was too unpleasant, and that the character would be confused with cult leaders like Charles Manson (Manson killed actress Sharon Tate in 1969).

You might, however, recognize the name from The Force Awakens, as the name of Kylo Ren’s Death Star homage, Starkiller Base — presumably a little Easter egg for the hardcore fans who’d been living on nothing but Star Wars trivia for 30-odd years.

Luke went through several other changes over the course of the series (not just from farmer to hotshot Jedi). George Lucas toyed with making the hero of the saga a woman, after cutting Princess Leia from the script.

In one concept drawing, lady Luke is sat at the feet of a bearded prototype of Han Solo, who is holding a lightsaber. But thankfully, Lucas changed his mind, made Luke a wholesome farm boy, put Leia back in, and made Han Solo the cynical hermit nerd we know and love.