It’s 4th May! Which, as of course you know, means Star Wars Day! Latest film The Force Awakens featured the original trio – Luke, Leia and Han Solo – alongside gigantic Wookiee Chewbacca and droids R2-D2 and C-3PO. But what about the other characters we left behind in 1983’s Return Of The Jedi? Here’s what happened to them after they left the series behind…
Lando Calrissian – Billy Dee Williams:
Boba Fett – Jeremy Bulloch:
Boba Fett – Jeremy Bulloch: The man behind rocket-booted bounty hunter Boba Fett has kept himself busy with roles in Casualty and Doctors. He also appeared in 2005’s Star Wars film, Revenge Of The Sith, in a different guise as Captain Colton, a pilot from Alderaan.
Darth Vader (voice) – James Earl Jones:
Darth Vader (voice) – James Earl Jones: The unmistakable voice behind original bad dad Darth Vader has also voiced The Lion King’s magnanimous father Mufasa, and nasty snake-cult leader Thulsa Doom in Conan The Barbarian. He’s also pursued a career in TV, and has acted on Broadway. Might even be your father.
Darth Vader (body) – David Prowse:
Darth Vader (body) – David Prowse: Bodybuilder Prowse was the towering corpus that Earl Jones voiced, as his own accent was a cheery West Country burr that earned him the on-set nickname ‘Darth Farmer’. He’s made a career of the role, writing books on Star Wars and appearing at conventions. He also recently echoed his role as the Green Cross Code man with a road safety campaign.
Princess Leia – Carrie Fisher:
Princess Leia – Carrie Fisher: Fisher’s been prolific, but in shrewd, small roles, such as her brilliantly acidic grandmother in Channel 4’s Catastrophe. She’s also written a semi-autobiographical novel about addiction and mental health, Postcards From The Edge, and is partly responsible for James Blunt’s career, having allowed him to nurture his talent in her guest room.
Jabba the Hutt – Larry Ward:
Jabba the Hutt – Larry Ward: Language expert Ward developed ‘Huttese’, the language Jabba spoke, alongside Ben Burtt, who creates R2-D2’s bleep noises. He also voiced bounty hunter Greedo in the first film. He passed away in 2007, aged 63.
The Emperor (1980) – Clive Revill:
The Emperor (1980) – Clive Revill: The holographic projection of the Emperor’s face – which was actually an old lady with a chimp superimposed, to make it freaky – was originally voiced by Kiwi actor Revill in The Empire Strikes Back. At 85 he’s recently stopped acting, but his voice has been in everything from Transformers to Batman.
The Emperor (1983-2005) – Ian McDiarmid:
The Emperor (1983-2005) – Ian McDiarmid: After personifying evil in Return Of The Jedi, McDiarmid returned for Star Wars‘ ‘prequel trilogy’ to play the younger, less deformed version of Palpatine. He’s also had a lot of stage work, acting with the RSC and National Theatre, and serving as artistic director of North London’s Almeida from 1990-2001.
Yoda – Frank Oz:
Yoda – Frank Oz: Beginning his career as a puppeteer, Oz was the voice and motion behind Yoda when he entered the films in 1980s The Empire Strikes Back. While continuing to voice Yoda in various forms of media, he’s also a voice actor on Sesame Street, as well as being a Muppets regular, voicing Miss Piggy and others.
Owen Lars – Phil Brown:
Owen Lars – Phil Brown: The Massachusetts man who played Luke’s uncle was branded a communist in 1953 and lived in England from then until 1993. After his character was killed off in the first Star Wars film, his acting career was mainly on the stage in Europe. He died in 1999, aged 89, having returned to the US.
Beru Lars – Shelagh Fraser:
Beru Lars – Shelagh Fraser: Luke’s Aunt Beru went on to play small roles in Midsomer Murders and A Touch Of Frost. She died in 2000, aged 79.
Wicket – Warwick Davis:
Wicket – Warwick Davis: Davis was just 12 when he played one of the Ewoks of Endor in the last film of the original trilogy, Return Of The Jedi. Set to return in Episode VII, he’s also been seen in various Harry Potter movies playing characters including cheery Charms teacher Professor Flitwick, plus his own Ricky Gervais-scripted sitcom, Life’s Too Short.
R2-D2 – Kenny Baker:
R2-D2 – Kenny Baker: The man inside lovable robot R2-D2 was originally due to play Warwick Davis’s role of Wicket, too, but fell ill. He had a brief stand-up career in the ’90s, acted in The Elephant Man and Amadeus, and in 1999, returned as R2-D2 for the prequel trilogy. He’ll also be back in the new films.
C-3PO – Anthony Daniels:
C-3PO – Anthony Daniels: Polite, well-spoken golden robot C-3PO has been voiced by Anthony Daniels for all six films, and apart from a bit of CGI, the actor has played him too, in costume. He’s been doing voice work as the robot since, in the different videogames and TV versions of Star Wars.
Obi-Wan Kenobi – Alec Guinness:
Obi-Wan Kenobi – Alec Guinness: Oscar-nominated for his role as Luke’s spiritual guide, Obi-Wan, Guinness was already a highly respected name when he appeared in Lucas’s film. He reportedly hated his fan following and called Obi-Wan’s lines “mumbo jumbo”. He played John Le Carré’s spy George Smiley from 1979-1982 on the BBC, and stopped acting in the mid-’90s. He died in 2000, aged 86.
Han Solo – Harrison Ford:
Han Solo – Harrison Ford: Arguably the greatest success story from the original Star Wars trilogy, the carpenter-turned-actor turned his success as space smuggler Han Solo into worldwide stardom as Indiana Jones and, later, Rick Deckard in seminal sci-fi film Blade Runner. He’s the highest-grossing star at the box-office ever.
Chewbacca – Peter Mayhew:
Chewbacca – Peter Mayhew: This 7ft 3in 71-year-old from Barnes now lives in Texas, where he had double knee-replacement surgery two years ago. Since the original trilogy, you’d be hard-pressed to find him doing any acting other than as his enormous Wookiee character – including in 2005’s Revenge Of The Sith. He’s back with old pal Han Solo in The Force Awakens.
Grand Moff Tarkin – Peter Cushing:
Grand Moff Tarkin – Peter Cushing: Cushing was a friend of Christopher Lee, and frequently appeared opposite him. He received an OBE in 1989, and died in 1994, aged 81.
Wedge Antilles – Denis Lawson:
Wedge Antilles – Denis Lawson: You may recognise Lawson from Bleak House, New Tricks and the many other TV appearances he’s made. He apparently turned down the offer of returning as Rebel X-Wing pilot Wedge Antilles in the upcoming film because “it just would have bored me”. Amazingly, New Tricks doesn’t.
Wampa – Des Webb:
Wampa – Des Webb: The 6ft 10in man in the snow monster costume also played ‘Person of Unrestricted Growth’ in an episode of Blackadder, and an Eskimo chief in the 1985 comedy Morons From Outer Space. He passed away in 2002.
Luke Skywalker – Mark Hamill:
Luke Skywalker – Mark Hamill: Hamill struggled to distance himself from the Skywalker role, but made efforts via theatre and unusual films. Recently he’s played the villain in spy comedy Chuck, but his biggest hit was voicing the Joker – he’s now retired – in the animated series of Batman, and in the Batman: Arkham games.
