There's a scene in the 1977 "Star Wars" that has been driving fans mad since then.
For years, they debated whether Han Solo (Harrison Ford) or Greedo took the first shot in the famous Cantina scene, until an updated version released in 1997 in which Lucas edited it to make it clear that Greedo shot first.
This decision drove fans crazy.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Lucas finally justified his decision. He wanted to make sure that Solo was a hero, and having him shoot first just didn't seem to be in the character's nature.
"Han Solo was going to marry Leia, and you look back and say, 'Should he be a cold-blooded killer?'" he said.
"Star Wars" is first and foremost a space Western and Han Solo has frequently been compared to a cowboy. In Lucas' mind, the best Western characters don't shoot first.
"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," Lucas said.
See Han Solo's continued adventures in "The Force Awakens" on December 18th.
Story by Ian Phillips and editing by Stephen Parkhurst
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