It’s an age-old argument for fans of Star Wars – who shot first in the “A New Hope” film, Han Solo or bounty hunter Greedo?
While many would stand by the original film that put Han (played by Harrison Ford) as clearly the initiator, the creator of the Star Wars franchise, George Lucas, released an edit in the 1997 special edition of the film where Greedo shot first. In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Lucas talked about his career and defended his choice of Greedo over Han.
“Han Solo was going to marry Leia, and you look back and say, ‘Should he be a cold-blooded killer?'” Lucas said. “Because I was thinking mythologically – should he be a cowboy, should he be John Wayne? And I said, ‘Yeah, he should be John Wayne.’ And when you’re John Wayne, you don’t shoot people [first] – you let them have the first shot. It’s a mythological reality that we hope our society pays attention to.”
While Lucas’ reasoning makes sense, there will likely always be controversy surrounding the infamous scene. The new edit in “A New Hope” caused an uproar in the fanbase from the moment it was released, and the upset has not quieted down even now. However, Lucas has apparently noticed little of it. He told the Washington Post that he has tried to avoid the Internet by abstaining from Facebook, Twitter and even email since 2000.
What do you think? Is George Lucas right, or is Han actually the first to shoot?
