10 Star Wars Subplots That Went Literally Nowhere
7. Han Owing Jabba Money (A New Hope)
Han Solo is introduced as a cocky and shallow, yet somehow still loveable, rogue in his introduction on Mos Eisley spaceport. The audience gets a hint of what drives him when he agrees to take Luke, Ben, C-3PO and R2-D2 to Alderaan under the promise of a good payment, however we soon see why money is so important to him when he runs into Greedo.
The bounty hunter informs us that Han is living with a price over his head due to the debts he owes to Jabba the Hutt, easily one of Star Wars' most famous and feared individuals. Whilst Han takes down Greedo and escapes Tatooine, the whole subplot of this rogue's financial worries are always dismissed by the other characters as being an example of Han's shallowness, rather than being a very legitimate reason to keep looking over his shoulder.
The whole direction of this subplot could have been very, very different. Instead of the quips and jokes about how much a princess is worth, audiences up and down the land could have seen a Han Solo very much on the run, feeling the paranoia of knowing that right across the galaxy there would be someone out looking for him.