As production on the third and then-final Star Wars film was picking up steam, several things were in place that were eventually going to be dropped entirely, delayed for later films, or changed completely. Return of the Jedi, early on in production, was ultimately a very different movie, both artistically and thematically, then when production finished two years later. It would tell a very different story with a very different ending. Hell, it wasn't even called Return of the Jedi. It was originally going to be released as Revenge of the Jedi, but that title got changed right before release because Lucas felt that "Jedi do not take revenge". *Cough* Anakin killing the sand people *cough* *cough*. Gary Kurtz, producer of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back and former producer of Return of the Jedi, outlines why things changed the way they did. Kurtz says:
“I could see where things were headed. The toy business began to drive the Lucasfilm empire. It’s a shame. They make three times as much on toys as they do on films. It’s natural to make decisions that protect the toy business, but that’s not the best thing for making quality films.”Toys. Again, it all comes back to toys. Let's face it, the first Star Wars movie in '77 didn't have much in the way of tie-in toys. After all, kids literally bought empty cardboard boxes from Kenner because the movie did so well, that Kenner wasn't prepared for the movie's huge success with the lack of toy development they had made. So kids bought an empty cardboard box from Kenner promising them that they'd get free figures when they became available. How psycho is that?! That's like if Microsoft totally underestimated an Xbox launch, so to compensate, they made you pay $500 for an empty cardboard box that you then sat on for five months until you got the actual console shipped to you, if you even got it at all. Kids in '77 must've been desperate. So in '83, during the release of Return of the Jedi, I guess we can put together that Kurtz is suggesting that toys factored in to a lot of Lucas's decision making, the biggest one being cancelling Han Solo's untimely demise.
That's right, before he was due to die in The Force Awakens, Han Solo was slated to die in Return of the Jedi during a rebel raid on an Imperial compound. Harrison Ford was notoriously behind this idea way back then even, so this could have been a very real possibility. Gary Kurtz states that he "was never a fan of the Han Solo character", and thought too that Han should die "to give Jedi some grim moments". George Lucas stated in the documentary "Empire of Dreams" that Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill were the only ones to sign on for all three films. Harrison Ford signed on film-to-film, hoping that Han Solo would be killed off. In the original, much more poignant script, Han was to still be rescued by Luke and Leia at Jabba's palace, only to die about halfway through the movie in an Imperial raid. This was apparently dropped, against the wishes of both Gary Kurtz and Harrison Ford, when Lucas came to the decision to save him. There's even a rumor on the quote that Lucas used to back his decision, which was "You can't sell dead Han Solo action figures". So, take it however you want. Plenty of articles on this subject. Kurtz even goes on further to state:
“We had an outline and George changed everything in it. Instead of bittersweet and poignant he wanted a euphoric ending with everybody happy. The original idea was that they would recover Han Solo in the early part of the story and that he would then die in the middle part of the film in a raid on an Imperial base. George then decided he didn’t want any of the principals killed. By that time there were really big toy sales and that was a reason [the change was made]." "The first film and 'Empire' were about story and character, but I could see that George’s priorities were changing."All of this seems to just further persuade the reader that Lucas is how people later on have made him out to be; a toymaker who just so happens to be in the filmmaking business. While it's not the worst thing in the world to have a merchandising plan in place for your movies to get non-moviegoers at toy stores and clothes stores into the theaters to see your movie, it does get to be a bit ridiculous to let the toymaking machine completely change how you want to tell your story. Apparently, that ideology must've changed somewhere down the road too, because The Force Awakens killed Han Solo off and they made Han Solo action figures for that movie. So...ha? Lucas has always notoriously been a person to let his personal beliefs influence how he makes his movies. His changing mentality throughout the years has also been a driving force for changing the original editions into the Special Editions and why those changes were awful...we've already talked about how much they sucked.
Part 3 coming soon...
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