As Star Wars fans keep their eyes trained to the future, looking for insight into J.J. Abrams’ Episode VII, a core member of George Lucas’ founding feature films spent the afternoon looking back at the franchise’s legacy, sharing vintage behind-the-scenes pics from years gone by.
Peter Mayhew, the tall actor who played everyone’s favorite Wookie, Chewbacca, tweeted a series of old photos from the Star Wars archives. Mayhew tweets from TheWookieRoars, and if you prefer classic Star Wars versus the digital chilliness of the prequel trilogy, you might want to follow along on Twitter immediately.
It was very good timing on the part of Mayhew, as he follows up news that a rewrite to Abrams’ Episode VII screenplay will put an emphasis back on Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford)… meaning Mayhew may be back in a serious role. Abrams already confirmed that R2-D2 is back in the fold for the new movies. And a very tall actor shared stories of his audition, leading many to speculate that he was going out for Chewie. There are so many mysteries surrounding Abrams’ sequel – ah, that Mystery Box nonsense – that it’s hard to look ahead to Episode VII until we have concrete new to discuss.
Instead, we look back. Check out these fun, casual, throwback Star Wars images (with amusing captions) from Mayhew’s Twitter feed. As he says, these aren’t "unseen" images, but there’s a very good chance they have been in an archive and out of the spotlight for decades.
Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. He's frequently found on Twitter at @Sean_OConnell. ReelBlend cohost. A movie junkie who's Infatuated with comic-book films. Helped get the Snyder Cut released, then wrote a book about it.
