These Star Wars facts will blow your mind and shed some new light on the beloved franchise
30 Star Wars Facts Only True Fans Know
Updated on Mar. 25, 2025
Star Wars facts about a galaxy far, far away
Star Wars is a movie franchise that’s in a league of its own. It even has its own fun holiday, known as May the 4th Be With You—and there are even Star Wars pick up lines fans love to use. With Star Wars being one of the biggest and most beloved franchises in cinematic history—spanning live-action and animated films, TV shows and more—there’s no doubt you’ve been curious about the fascinating Star Wars facts behind the galaxy far, far away.
We’ve gathered some of the most mind-blowing Star Wars facts that will not only impress your friends during Star Wars trivia night but also make rewatching the saga even more exciting! Ever wondered about the secrets behind the Star Wars costumes, like C-3PO’s iconic suit? Or the surprising original ending of Return of the Jedi?
Whether you’re a lifelong fan or just starting your Star Wars journey, get ready for some of the coolest behind-the-scenes Star Wars facts that will change the way you see the franchise!
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The Millennium Falcon started off with a different design
The Millennium Falcon was almost unrecognizable in its first design—a long, tube-like ship that model makers felt replicated the one seen in Space: 1999. George Lucas scrapped it and issued a new challenge: make something totally unique, like a flying hamburger with the grace of a sunfish. The original concept didn’t go to waste, though—it became the Rebel Blockade Runner, the ship desperately escaping the Imperial Star Destroyer in A New Hope’s opening scene.
Lucas used war footage for inspiration
Lucas wanted Star Wars’ space battles to feel real—so he turned to actual war footage. Back in the late ’70s, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) was a scrappy team working out of a bare-bones warehouse. To guide them, Lucas spliced together old World War II dogfight reels, and ILM followed his lead, recreating some shots frame by frame—like the Millennium Falcon’s showdown with the TIE fighters.
The Star Wars Holiday Special was a flop
The Star Wars Holiday Special is legendary—for all the wrong reasons. When brainstorming the 1978 variety show, co-writer Leonard Ripps recalled Lucas mapping it out. His vision? A Wookiee holiday—something between Rosh Hashanah and Earth Day, but, you know, furrier.
Lucas funded his own projects
The Empire Strikes Back exists the way it does because Lucas bet on himself. After Star Wars became a massive hit, the studio still tried to control him—so he funded the sequel himself. It gave him creative freedom, but when the budget spiraled $10 million over, his bank-backed loan fell through. Lucas had no choice but to turn to 20th Century Fox, sacrificing some rights in the process. Frustrated, he took his next big idea—Raiders of the Lost Ark—to their rival Paramount.
A Cheers actor had a role in the Star Wars franchise
You might remember actor John Ratzenberger for his role as Cliff Clavin from the classic TV show Cheers. But before he was Clavin, Ratzenberger had a small role in The Empire Strikes Back as Major Bren Derlin.
The Star Wars cast had an unimpressive wardrobe
For its time, Star Wars: A New Hope was an impressive feat of special effects. Apparently, this didn’t apply to the cast’s wardrobe. “The pants I wore in the first film were just Levi blue jeans bleached-out, with the back pockets removed,” Hamill tweeted. “George (Lucas) called Star Wars the most expensive low-budget movie ever made and every penny spent had to show up on the screen. I think they started with my costume.” This revelation kind of makes us wonder why we haven’t been DIYing Skywalker Halloween costumes with bleached jeans all along for a more authentic “Luke look.”
The droid wasn’t really a robot
Yes, there is an actual human being walking around in that metallic C-3PO droid costume. It’s actor Anthony Daniels. As you can probably imagine, it wasn’t the most comfortable of togs to wear on set; in fact, Daniels couldn’t sit down while wearing the contraption. During the filming of Empire Strikes Back, if C-3PO had to sit down in a scene, Daniels would have to first be seated without the costume and production would have to build it up around him. This is why you never see C-3PO below the waist whenever he is seated.
The Star Wars cast had to work with the wind
If you’ve ever watched a Star Wars film and been taken aback by how loud the background noise is, consider how overwhelming it was for the actors filming these scenes. For example, in Empire Strikes Back when Luke and Darth Vader appear in a pivotal scene, the wind machines being used for effect were so loud, Hamill himself couldn’t hear a word Darth Vader was saying. Try to act against that! On Twitter, the actor reveals how he worked through the issue. “I used visual cues to know when to respond,” he tweets. “It was like acting in a silent movie, except LOUD.”
There was an issue with one of the Star Wars props
Another interesting Empire Strikes Back secret: There was an issue with a prop head made of Hamill that was used in a scene in which Luke sees his own face in Darth Vader’s helmet. When a fan asked about this particular scene, the actor obliged with an answer on Twitter. “Dissatisfied with the prop head of me they had made, we re-shot it with my real head pushed through an opening below the set,” he explained. “The hardest part was keeping my eyes open and not blinking as they wafted smoke in for atmosphere.” He added that the upside to using the not-so-great prop head was that you could “waft fire ants in for atmosphere and the eyes would stay open and NEVER BLINK!”
Blue Milk wasn’t the tastiest
That Blue Milk so popular at the Cantina on screen in Star Wars wasn’t exactly the cocktail of choice for the cast. According to Hamill, blue milk was actually “long life” milk which is often used by campers because it doesn’t require refrigeration. Blue food coloring was added to make it that sensational color. As for the taste? “Oily, warm, and slightly sweet, it literally made me gag, but I was determined to drink it on-camera,” tweeted Hamill. “It was an acting challenge to appear as though I enjoyed it.” Fun Star Wars fact: the blue milk in Star Wars is different from the blue drink (called spotchka) in The Mandalorian.
Skywalker’s vehicle was called a Podracer
Although The Phantom Menace, which hit theaters in 1999, was largely panned by both film critics and fans, there are still some little behind-the-scenes fun Star Wars facts that might surprise followers of the space opera saga. After all, the entire franchise has produced some pretty fierce vehicles for the characters to use. In this film, Anakin Skywalker drives a Podracer, which was actually constructed from the shell of a Maserati Birdcage. This was a racing car first introduced in the 1960s, making its design a bit of a vintage ride as young Skywalker raced across Tatooine.
A new milk was introduced to the Star Wars cast
Remember that tidbit about the not-so-appetizing Blue Milk? Well, apparently the cast and crew learned a thing or two as production on the initial three films continued because the characters’ beverage of choice greatly improved by the time The Last Jedi rolled around. In that film, the actors can be seen sipping Green Milk, a major step up from the blue stuff, according to Hamill. “The green milk was just regular coconut water dyed green in post-production,” he writes in a tweet. Hydrating and tastier? Sounds like a win-win for any actor who had to drink up.
Some of the Star Wars cast didn’t get along
C-3PO and R2-D2 may have been best buddies on-screen, but off-camera the actors who played the droids allegedly despised one another. According to Hollywood.com, Kenny Baker, the actor who portrayed R2-D2, referred to Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) as rude. “Anthony doesn’t mix at all—he keeps himself to himself,” Baker told the website. “He never wants to have a drink with any of us. Once when I said hello to him he just turned his back on me and said, ‘Can’t you see I’m having a conversation?’ I was blazing with rage. It was the rudest thing anyone had ever done to me. I was furious. It was unbelievable.”
A Star Wars actor wasn’t a fan of the Millennium Falcon
Harrison Ford’s Han Solo may have been the pilot of the Millennium Falcon, but on set Ford got so angry with the way production was going he actually took a saw to the beloved ship. “You heard about Harrison taking a saw to the Millennium Falcon because he got so mad?” Hamill mentioned in an interview with Empire. “People were coming up to me going, ‘You gotta stop Harrison, he’s sawing up the Falcon.’ It was made of wood and he just took a saw to it. I love Harrison. I got to stop him because I can make him laugh when he gets really, really mad.”
This Star Wars actor wasn’t a fan of Yoda voice impressions
Ever since Yoda made his Star Wars debut in 1980’s Empire Strikes Back, his very specific way of speaking made quite the impression on movie-goers and pop culture fanatics the world over. Even his casemates loved to imitate the green guy. But Frank Oz, who voiced the character, was none too pleased when he would hear their Yoda impressions. “We all were doing Yoda impressions (“Hungry are you? To lunch we must go!”),” recalls Hamill. “Frank finally asked us to please stop because our goofy versions were influencing him and a distraction from the only one that mattered.”
There were plenty of unscripted moments on Star Wars
If it isn’t obvious by now, Hamill has a lot of affection for the Star Wars franchise, and his late co-star Carrie Fisher. A scene they share in The Last Jedi during which Luke places a kiss on Leia’s forehead was just perfect for fans, but wasn’t in the script! “(It was) an emotionally charged day on set filming this because, knowing he was about to sacrifice his life for the greater good, Luke was saying goodbye … forever,” he tweeted. “The kiss was unscripted and spontaneous in the moment, summarizing his/my feelings in a way words could never have conveyed.”
The Star Wars firefighter suits had an unexpected issue
While most of the cast had a blast filming the initial Star Wars trilogy, the set wasn’t lacking in its grueling circumstances. When A New Hope was filming in England, the country was experiencing a heatwave of epic proportions. This made wearing those fighter pilot suits for scenes incredibly uncomfortable. The actors took matters into their own hands by only wearing the pieces of their costumes that would actually be captured on camera. “Because of a record heatwave in England when we filmed the original Star Wars, most of the pilots wore only the top-half of their costume, attacking the Death Star wearing shorts,” admits Hamill.
Star Wars was originally written with a female lead
A long time ago (January 1975, to be exact) a fledgling screenwriter named George Lucas was working on the second draft of an epic sci-fi space opera he called “Adventures of the Starkiller, Episode One: The Star Wars.” Of the many, many problems (and one of little-known Star Wars facts) with this clunky script that would eventually become Star Wars: A New Hope, one that seemed easily fixed to Lucas was the serious lack of female characters. So, Lucas did something radical: rewrote his story’s main character Luke Starkiller, as an 18-year-old girl. At least one concept drawing by artist Ralph McQuarrie exists of this short-lived gender swap, but a few months later, with Lucas’ next draft, Starkiller was a boy again. Star Wars wouldn’t get a female lead until nearly 40 years later.
Yoda was almost going to be a monkey
Next time you complain about the goofy CG Yoda from the prequels, consider one of these Star Wars facts: the spiritual center of the Jedi order was almost a real-life monkey in a green mask carrying a cane. Luckily, there was a monkey expert on set to throw a banana peel in this plan’s tracks. One of the crew who worked with apes in 2001: A Space Odyssey quickly pointed out, “Look, the monkey’s just going to pull off the mask over and over again. It’s never going to work.” The team soon enlisted Muppet master-crafter Jim Henson, who suggested casting Frank Oz (formerly the voice of Miss Piggy) to bring Yoda to life. Bonus Star Wars fact: According to the early “Starkiller” drafts of the movie, Lucas wanted to call Yoda “Buffy.”
Star Wars: Return of The Jedi had a different fate for Han Solo
The original ending of Return of The Jedi has Luke assuming Darth Vader’s role as evil Galactic enforcer, and Han Solo dying in his heroic raid on the Death Star. Harrison Ford probably would have been fine with this. Ford was famously snippy about Lucas’ script (“George, you can type this ****, but you can’t say it.”) and in a 2010 interview he waved off his iconic character as “Ham Yoyo,” stating he was officially “done with him.” Time makes fools of us all.
Star Wars has a shocking connection to King Kong
Well, in a manner of speaking. When Emperor Palpatine first appears as a hologram in The Empire Strikes Back, the person under the black mantle and facial prosthetics is not Ian McDiarmid, who played Palpatine on screen in Return of The Jedi. It’s not a man at all: the first Emperor we see is actually Elaine Baker, then-wife of Star Wars makeup designer Rick Baker. As Gizmodo points out, Rick Baker once donned the monkey suit in the 1976 King Kong remake, so we can technically say that Emperor Palpatine and King Kong were legally wed. (Just try not to imagine their children.)
The Star Wars moving texts had a complicated process
The famous floating text that opens A New Hope may have been one of the greatest special effects achievements in the film. As Mental Floss points out, the text was filmed practically “by carefully placing 2-foot-wide die-cut yellow letters over a 6-foot-long black paper background with a camera making a slow pass over them to mimic the crawl.” What’s now a default option on filmmaking software took LucasArts three hours to capture. Bonus Star Wars fact: That “revolutionary” text effect? Flash Gordon did it first.
The Death Star garbage was real
The trash in the Death Star garbage compactor scene in A New Hope was real. So real, in fact, that the smell was so bad that Mark Hamill burst a blood vessel from trying to hold his breath, and the camera angle had to be adjusted for the rest of the scene so as not to show his injury. As for Peter Mayhew’s yak-hair Chewbacca suit? It reeked for the rest of production. Bonus Star Wars fact: At the start of A New Hope, Chewbacca is 200 years old.
There were four Darth Vaders
How do you capture a presence as big as Darth Vader? Cast four men. The on-screen body of Vader is six-foot-five bodybuilder David Prowse; his stunt double for action scenes is professional fencer Bob Anderson; the voice of Vader is the great James Earl Jones, and the de-helmeted face of Vader in Return of The Jedi is Sebastian Shaw.
The Star Wars actors didn’t know the ending of The Empire Strikes Back
Get a load of one of these Star Wars facts: Lucas kept the twist ending of Empire so well guarded, he even wrote fake text in the script to throw the actors off. During filming, David Prowse (whose voice was later dubbed by James Earl Jones reciting the actual line) yelled to Mark Hamill: “Obi-Wan killed your father!” The cast and crew thought this was the real line—only Hamill, who had been told the truth about Vader moments before filming the scene, knew otherwise. If the secret leaked, it would all come back to Luke. Of course, if you spoke Dutch or German, you’d already know by A New Hope that Darth Vader literally translates to “Darth Father.”
Jabba the Hutt was expensive
Named by some as the most expensive puppet in the world, the $500,000 Jabba the Hutt model required seven people to bring to life: “Three puppeteers were inside: one controlled the right arm and jaw, another handled the left hand and jaw, tongue, and head movements, and both of them moved the body; a third person was in the tail. Outside, there were one or two people on radio controllers for the eyes, someone under the stage to blow cigar smoke up a tube, and another working bellows for the lungs.”
R2D2 and an Ewok were the same actor
In less expensive news (but another one of these rare Star Wars facts), Kenny Baker, the man destined to live inside R2D2, also donned the bear suit to play an Ewok in Return of The Jedi. He plays Paploo—the enterprising Ewok who steals an Imperial speeder bike. What’s more, the word “Ewok” is never mentioned once in the original trilogy (though they do get a credit at the end.)
The Ewok song has a classic rock twist
The final victory song sung by the Ewoks at the end of Jedi was written by the same dude who wrote “Africa”: Joseph Williams, lead singer of Toto and son of legendary composer John Williams. I guess it rains down in Eeeendoooooore … Plus, in other surprising composition news, the Cantina music featured in The Force Awakens was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda—the creator and original star of current Broadway smash hit Hamilton.
The sounds in Star Wars were uniquely made
Kids should thank sound designer Ben Burtt for some of the most memorable noises of their childhood. Want to know how he did it? The sound of Darth Vader’s breathing was recorded by putting a microphone inside a scuba tank regulator; Chewbacca’s signature Wookie gargle is a combination of bear, walrus, lion and badger sounds. The sound of Vader’s pod door closing in Empire is reportedly the sound of a whole block of Alcatraz cell doors slamming shut.
Lucas and Steven Spielberg made a gamble regarding their films
Another one of these little-known Star Wars facts? In the late ‘70s, Lucas was working on A New Hope at the same time his buddy Steven Spielberg was working on Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Visiting the Close Encounters set one day, Lucas reportedly fell into a panic. Spielberg says: “He said, ‘Oh my God, your movie is going to be so much more successful than Star Wars! This is gonna be the biggest hit of all time. I can’t believe this set.’ He said, ‘All right, I’ll tell you what. I’ll trade some points with you. I’ll give you 2.5% of Star Wars if you give me 2.5% of Close Encounters.’ So I said, ‘Sure, I’ll gamble with that.’”
Gamble is right. Star Wars made $775 million at the global box office compared with Close Encounters’ $304 million. Adjusted for inflation, TIME reports, “Spielberg’s edge could come out to as much as $40 million.” The kicker? Lucas actually made good on his bet. (Doesn’t hurt when you’re a billionaire.)
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Sources:
- Wayback Machine: “Millenium Falcon”
- Salon: “Secrets of the “Star Wars” drafts: Inside George Lucas’ amazing — and very different — early scripts”
- The Wrap: “‘Star Wars’ Fun Fact: Yoda Was Almost Played by This Monkey (Photos)”
- Gizmodo: “Yoda was originally played by a monkey in a mask, and other secrets of The Empire Strikes Back”
- Mental Floss: “50 Things You Might Not Know About Star Wars”
- Vulture: “Lin-Manuel Miranda Reveals the Story Behind the Song He Wrote for Star Wars: The Force Awakens”
- Time: “George Lucas Lost a $40 Million Bet to Steven Spielberg Over Star Wars”
- X: “Mark Hamill”
- X: “Mark Hamill”
- X: “Mark Hamill”
