7. He wasn’t going to feature in Star Wars

The original Star Wars draft created by George Lucas didn’t feature Chewbacca, and Han Solo was portrayed as an alien with green skin and gills. To create a human relationship between Han, Luke and Leia, George Lucas decided to make Han Solo a human too.

Due to this change in the draft, the furry friend was created as a non-human sidekick of Han Solo, a loyal partner that would last in the long living Star Wars movies. However, in the beginning he would only be present on the “three or four pages of the original Star Wars screenplay,” as Mayhew confirmed.

After realizing the potential of the character, the producers extended his role so he became one of the most important characters in Star Wars.