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Newfound copy of original Star Wars script settles one of the biggest Han Solo debates ever

Published Jun 11th, 2015 2:41PM EDT

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Warning: spoilers ahead! Those of you who somehow managed not to see Star Wars yet are in for some amazing surprises. And for longtime fans, this will settle once and for all one of your biggest debates.

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If you were shocked to find out that Han Solo was already married when he met Leia, then you’ll be stoked to hear that one of the biggest fan debates surrounding the first original movie (now episode IV) has been settled by a librarian who just found a copy of the original Star Wars script.

Dated March 15, 1976, and marked as a “fourth draft,” the script was found by mistake, CBC reports, by librarian Kristian Brown who was working on digitizing the University of New Brunswick Library science-fiction collection.

“I was just looking actually for something else entirely and then I just found this unique looking item,” he said about what appeared to be an original shooting script for Star Wars. However, even though the script is emblazoned with official Lucasfilm Industries stamps and has a date that precedes the first movie, it appears to be just a copy of the real early script, a “fan-made” replica version that might have been sold at conventions.

“No matter how many new things are made, it all basically came from this first thing. And it’s just good to look back at the origins of the entire thing and not forget, you know, what came first,” the librarian said.

The script itself is certainly interesting, as it not only reveals that Luke Skywalker was initially named “Luke Starkiller” – let’s take a moment and appreciate that someone had the good taste to axe this particular name – but it also settles the debate around an original scene featuring Han Solo.

In the original movie, Solo fired first at Jabba the Hutt’s bounty hunter Greedo at the Cantina Bar. In the 1997 version, the scene was changed to make it look like Solo was acting in self-defense.

“I’ll tell you one thing, right now,” Brown said. “Based on the script, I can tell you 100 per cent, Han shot first.”

You can check that scene below, as it appeared in the 1977, 1997 and 2011 versions of the movie.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.