“Near the climax, Han Solo crosses light sabers with Darth Vader” and Other Empire Strikes Back Rumors in 1980

Isn’t it good to know that rumors and speculation have surrounded movies for decades? With Star Wars: Rogue One coming next month, and Episode VIII a year away, it’s fun to look back to early 1980 and Starlog magazine for some of the wacky misinformation that surrounded The Empire Strikes Back before the movie’s release.

Here are just a few choice bits from this old article:

• ” . . . we’ve also heard that Mark Hamill doesn’t want to be in Star Wars 3 and Luke gets killed; or that both Luke and Han die and the saga continues with either the Princess or one of the new characters in the lead.”
• “Although Leia insists that Chewie’s rescue must wait, that other Rebel business must take precedence over an attempt, Han defies the orders and takes off in the Falcon to rescue his friend and co-pilot.”
• “Equally persistent are the rumors that he [The Emperor] will be played by Orson Welles . . . and by Christopher Lee.”
• “The only way the alien can be killed (shades of Dracula) is to drive a metal stake through his heart. The only metal around, unfortunately, is C-3PO; and Luke melts down the ‘droid to fabricate the weapon.”

Trust me, this article is packed with way more speculative rumors that were surrounding The Empire Strikes Back back in early 1980, showing us that today’s internet rumors that surround movies are continuing a long tradition of complete nonsense getting shared as insider knowledge.

Related articles

• Black Hole Robot Concept Art in Starlog #35 (battlegrip.com)
• 1980 Star Wars Sweepstakes Color Advertisement from the Los Angeles Times (battlegrip.com)