10 Insane Star Wars Plot Twists George Lucas Nearly Made Happen

Returning to the figure who unquestionably shot first, long before he was finally given his wish of biting the dust in the galaxy far, far away, Harrison Ford was very nearly taken out of the Star Wars action altogether in the middle of the Original Trilogy.

While the likes of Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were said to have signed on to appear in all three flicks, Ford was only contractually obligated to show up in A New Hope and its sequel The Empire Strikes Back.

And genuinely not knowing whether his Solo actor would be all that interested in playing the character again for a third time in Return of the Jedi, with Ford famously and repeatedly asking for his smuggler to be killed off throughout, Lucas decided that it was likely best to just freeze him in carbonite until it was clear as to whether they'd have a Han to play with in Episode VI or not.

George at one point even told producer Howard Kazanjian that he was sure Ford would never return, meaning that he was very much preparing for an almost unthinkable world where Han's last hurrah would've come in Episode V.

Thankfully, though, Ford was eventually convinced to make a comeback, and Lucas went about writing the legend back into the trilogy-ending mix.