Han Should Have Died in Return of the Jedi, Says Harrison Ford

[GreyKnight3445]

nice

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I'm confused, shoot the Emperor in the back? It makes no sense; he shot no Emperor.

Well, technically I guess he wasn't an emperor anymore, but I assume you're not familiar with Empire's End?

Ah, yes, I am not familiar. I'm actually pretty surprised that the Emperor survived what happen to him in Return of the Jedi. It certainly is a more believable way for him to go, then shot in the back.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Harrison was always known to dislike the character. And I think he's right, it would've added that little bit more bite to the movie. It didn't really need it, but it would've added it.

Although, if Han left the picture, who knows what Luke and his sister wouldve decided to do...

Nothing, nothing would have happened between Luke and Leia. The idea was that Han would die at the end of the Return of the Jedi. Luke and Leia knew before that that they were siblings, so, nothing would have happened.

My comment was a joke. I'm aware they knew they were siblings, everyone with a brain who watched the movie knew that.

Sorry, since it didn't fit with the plot, I didn't take it seriously that it was a joke. I guess I only find things funny or see them as joke if they fit.

 

[JediMB]

I'm confused, shoot the Emperor in the back? It makes no sense; he shot no Emperor.

Well, technically I guess he wasn't an emperor anymore, but I assume you're not familiar with Empire's End?

Ah, yes, I am not familiar. I'm actually pretty surprised that the Emperor survived what happen to him in Return of the Jedi. It certainly is a more believable way for him to go, then shot in the back.

Basically he kept himself alive through transferring his consciousness to younger clones of his own body, which we can (now) assume he acquired through technology related to the Clone Wars.

After Dark Empire and Dark Empire II, Palpatine was down to his last clone and planned to use Han and Leia's newborn son as his new body. After some fighting, Han basically shot him in the back just as he was going to do his body-snatching thing.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I'm confused, shoot the Emperor in the back? It makes no sense; he shot no Emperor.

Well, technically I guess he wasn't an emperor anymore, but I assume you're not familiar with Empire's End?

Ah, yes, I am not familiar. I'm actually pretty surprised that the Emperor survived what happen to him in Return of the Jedi. It certainly is a more believable way for him to go, then shot in the back.

Basically he kept himself alive through transferring his consciousness to younger clones of his own body, which we can (now) assume he acquired through technology related to the Clone Wars.

After Dark Empire and Dark Empire II, Palpatine was down to his last clone and planned to use Han and Leia's newborn son as his new body. After some fighting, Han basically shot him in the back just as he was going to do his body-snatching thing.

Interesting, I'm assuming this is partially where Lucas Arts got the story idea for The Force Unleashed 2.

Edit: With the clones.

 

[Brett Alex]

was that the one Ewok with a name that died. Never noticed that before. Still, my choice of words of "very little" holds an even more prevalent meaning now.

Then you sir, have no soul.

Nah, I saw Jedi for the first time when I was like 6, so, that bit where he shakes him and he won't get up hits me like I'm still a kid every time.

 

[Captain Pancake]

was that the one Ewok with a name that died. Never noticed that before. Still, my choice of words of "very little" holds an even more prevalent meaning now.

Then you sir, have no soul.

Nah, I saw Jedi for the first time when I was like 6, so, that bit where he shakes him and he won't get up hits me like I'm still a kid every time.

I meant very little cause, you know, the Ewok's very... little.

 

[Madara XIII]

Nooooooo!!
Han cant die! Then who will make love to Chewbacca in the back of the falcon!?!?

Errr..... i mean...... Yes. He should have died for the story..... and such.....

You are a very very dirty person....*Starts Guzzling Brain Bleach* make the Images go away!!!


But I can imagine the Dialouge. As Frank from Apocalypse lane would have said. "Jesus Christ going down on you is like sucking on a Troll Doll Head ya furry bastard"

 

[Beach_Sided]

Imagine what a crazy film 'Return of the Jedi' would have been if Han Solo had of died by being killed and eaten by the Ewoks.
(which would of happened if not for Luke's telekinesis)

 

[zana bonanza]

But I like happy endings.

 

[Signa]

I'm all for killing main characters because no one expects it, but can you imagine how pathetic Han would have been in Jedi had he died? I mean, you are given a teary goodbye from him in the last movie, then they would have thawed him out, then he would still have been blind, then he would have died a short time later. Not fitting for a hero such as Han. If they wanted to kill Han in Jedi, it would have had to been at the hands of Jabba smashing the carbonite in front of everyone, thus never having to actually cast Ford in the third movie. That's the only way it could have worked.

 

[maddog015]

Why is this news? I've heard similar things from Ford on the Special Edition DVDs bonus material, which was released over a decade ago, and it contained ancient interviews.

This.

Old news. Harrison has said in many interviews that he wanted Han to die, but Lucas put the kibosh on it.

 

[TylerC]

This is really old news. Originally Han was supposed to die and the "dead Han toys," probably comes from what this article talks about: Link

 

[Falseprophet]

Yyyyeah, um, Mr. Ford? You do realize that Return of the Jedi was originally going to let Lando Calrissian die in the final battle, but test audiences disliked it so much that they let him live, right? If they were that upset over Lando's potential death, how do you think the fans would feel over your own character's?

I don't necessarily feel Han or Lando should have died, but the fact the Emperor and the Empire were defeated without the loss of anyone we grew to care about kind of cheapens them as villains. Obi-Wan doesn't really count: he effectively martyred himself, and Yoda died in his sleep. Owen and Beru served to motivate Luke to leave Tatooine, but we didn't really get a chance to like them and they're never brought up again. We get a bit more of Biggs in the extended footage, but he died in Ep. 4. Otherwise, only faceless redshirts die.

If Lando had died, it would have been i) introducing a character halfway through the story solely for the purpose of heroic sacrifice or ii) implying Lando's only chance for redemption for his betrayal of Han and Leia at the end of Ep. V was a heroic sacrifice. Whereas Han dying heroically would have been a complete arc for his character: going from "I look out for one person: me" and "I'm not in it for your revolution", to someone willing to give his life for the people he loves and a cause he believes in.

 

[DiMono]

Yyyyeah, um, Mr. Ford? You do realize that Return of the Jedi was originally going to let Lando Calrissian die in the final battle, but test audiences disliked it so much that they let him live, right? If they were that upset over Lando's potential death, how do you think the fans would feel over your own character's?

I'd argue that's the point: give us fans something to hate in order to make the parts we love that much sweeter. Have the Rebels win despite losing one of their most important members. One of Lucas' strengths is making us feel like it's all a lost cause on every front at once, so I have no doubt he could have written in a glorious death for Han, going out fighting, as the punctuation mark on a totally hopeless cause.

But alas, everyone's in the business of making money, so merchandising trumps plot. I'd definitely be interested in reading the original script though.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

I think we should just leave Star Wars alone and pretend that only 4-6 exist and all of the actors were amazingly happy playing the classic characters we all know

 

[hermes]

Yyyyeah, um, Mr. Ford? You do realize that Return of the Jedi was originally going to let Lando Calrissian die in the final battle, but test audiences disliked it so much that they let him live, right? If they were that upset over Lando's potential death, how do you think the fans would feel over your own character's?

That is one of the main problem the franchise has derived into... Test audiences has more weight than any attempt for drama or honest character development (and you can guess which demography those test audiences are selected from).
That is the only way I can understand Boba Fett having a big role in the sequels, or Yoda being in the last game.

 

[eljawa]

I agree, it would have heightened the danger and made return of the jedi a better film, because, and as a star wars nerd this is hard to say, but despite what Randal argues in Clerks, Jedi is the weakest of the original trilogy, by a huge margin. (and weaker than Revenge of the Sith)

You best do some s'plainin' there, boy. We don't like yer types around dese here parts.

Jokes, I'm actually just interested to why you think this, since it's a long time since I actually discussed something nerdy that I'm interested in. I know you probably have about 20 replies saying something like "HERESY!!", so feel free to ignore yet another.

.

So long as Hayden Christenson kept his mouth shut, there were no problems in ROTS. Overall, the feeling of the movie was perfect. It was very dark, but still managed to capture those magic star wars moments. The plot was actually pretty interesting, very logical, and connected the two trilogies.

Return of the Jedi served as a weak ending of the series, and not just because of the ewoks (though they helped to kill the film). I felt like Luke SKywalker in ROTJ was very poorly acted, he had a bad haircut, and i didnt like the way the green lightsaber looked (yeah, nitpicky i know). Yes, the light saber fight in the end was truly awesomeand the ground battle had a few cool moments...

Something about Return of the Jedi felt very cheesy...I guess thats the best way to describe it

 

[Double A]

So, so far we've had two actors who didn't like their characters and one who was high on set. Next thing we'll hear is that Mark Hamill was considering suicide after playing Luke.