Star Wars

Mark Hamill Reminds Star Wars Fans That Chewbacca Nearly Wore Lederhosen

There’s no denying the impact that Star Wars: A New Hope has made on all of pop culture, with all […]

There’s no denying the impact that Star Wars: A New Hope has made on all of pop culture, with all reminders about the changes made while developing the movie making fans happy that those decisions were avoided, which includes Chewbacca nearly wearing lederhosen in the adventure. Given that Chewbacca was clad only in a bandolier, adding clothes to his attire would seemingly imply they were covering up his anatomy, potentially posing complications with how audiences viewed the Wookiees. Star Mark Hamill recently expressed his relief at filmmaker George Lucas being able to talk the studio out of requiring the “walking carpet” wear pants.

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“FUN FACT: Very early in the shooting of [Star Wars] studio execs expressed deep concern that Chewie didn’t wear any pants & suggested he wear a pair of lederhosen,” Hamill shared on Twitter with concept art of Chewbacca. “That they would focus on this amidst all the grotesque elements in the script made us laugh (& a bit worried).”

Understandably, the ambitious nature of the galaxy far, far away meant a number of discussions arose regarding its citizens, resulting in the filmmakers finding the right balance of grounded and otherworldly. With Chewbacca not being required to wear clothes, it conveyed a much more animalistic interpretation of the character, which fell in line with Lucas’ inspiration for the character, which was his dog Indiana.

“The stories are all true, which is I had a large dog named Indiana. A malamute an Alaskan malamute, and he would ride around in the car, in the front seat. Not driving. I loved that image,” Lucas shared at Star Wars Celebration in 2017. “When he sat in the car, he was bigger than I was. That’s where I said, ‘That would be a fun character for Star Wars.’”

While it’s currently unknown when audiences will next see Wookiees, rumors claim that they could appear in Season 3 of The Mandalorian.

Are you glad that Chewbacca wasn’t forced to wear lederhosen? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!