Star Wars: Lucasfilm Shares Throwback to Valentine’s Day 1983

Happy Valentine's Day, Star Wars fans! Today is the day to celebrate the love shared between Han and Leia, Anakin and Padmé, Ben and Rey, Poe and Finn, and more. The official Instagram account for Lucasfilm decided to share a special throwback to Valentine's Day 1983 when The Empire Strikes Back debuted as a 10-part radio series on National Public Radio. The event featured tons of big names from the film as well as some other celebrity guests. The new Instagram post includes behind-the-scenes images from the event as well as a special V-Day gift that was given out to fans.

"In 1983, Star Wars fans received a heartfelt Valentine's Day gift from National Public Radio and Lucasfilm when The Empire Strikes Back debuted as a 10-part radio series on February 14th. Cast members included Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, Brock Peters as Darth Vader, Ann Sachs as Princess Leia, Perry King as Han Solo, and John Lithgow as Yoda. #Lucasfilm #tbt," Lucasfilm wrote.

You can check out the images in the post below:

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In 1983, Star Wars fans received a heartfelt Valentine's Day gift from National Public Radio and Lucasfilm when The Empire Strikes Back debuted as a 10-part radio series on February 14th. Cast members included Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, Brock Peters as Darth Vader, Ann Sachs as Princess Leia, Perry King as Han Solo, and John Lithgow as Yoda. #Lucasfilm #tbt

A post shared by Lucasfilm (@lucasfilm) on Feb 13, 2020 at 2:59pm PST

The 1983 radio event occurred three years after the release of Star Wars: The Empire Strike back, which was also the same year Star Wars: Return of the Jedi was released. In case you're struggling with the math, that means this year marks the 40th anniversary of Empire's release. Lucasfilm has been celebrating the occasion in various ways. Last month, they honored the fact that John Williams began scoring the film 40 years ago, and according to a recent Twitter post, it appears they will also be releasing a new picture book titled A Jedi, You Will Be later this year.

The latest Star Wars film, The Rise of Skywalker, was up for three Oscars on Sunday. The movie competed for Best Original Score (John Williams), Best Sound Editing (Matthew Wood and David Acord), and Best Visual Effects (Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy). The awards ended up going to Joker (Hildur Guðnadóttir), Ford v Ferrari (Donald Sylvester), and 1917 (Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler, and Dominic Tuohy).

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is still playing in select theaters.