10 Biggest Plot Twists In Star Wars History

One of the biggest revelations the Original Trilogy brought to Star Wars was the heritage of Princess Leia. As Luke leaves Dagobah to rescue his friends on Bespin, Obi-Wan worries for the young Skywalker's fate, though Yoda hints at another hope, by reassuring Kenobi "there is another". By Return of the Jedi, the Jedi Grandmaster reveals to Luke that he has a sibling, Leia.

In 2000, the producer of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, Gary Kurtz, stated that Leia was not always meant to be a Skywalker, with Return of the Jedi initially having a different ending. From Kurtz, "The story was quite a bit more poignant and the ending was the coronation of Leia as the queen of what was left of her people, to take over the royal symbol. That meant she was then isolated from all of the rest and Luke went off then by himself. It was basically a kind of bittersweet ending. She’s not his sister that dropped in to wrap up everything neatly."

With this reveal, Lucas had inadvertently opened a can of worms for the Star Wars franchise, such as whether Leia could be trained as a Jedi, as well as her unfortunate kiss with her brother on Hoth. Even so, Leia being a Skywalker certainly came as a major shock to fans.