What would’ve happened if Obi-Wan Kenobi survived his duel with Darth Vader in Star Wars: A New Hope? Would Luke Skywalker have traversed the same path that led him to becoming a Jedi? Would the reveal of his father dealt the same emotional blow if Luke hadn’t carried Obi-Wan’s death with him the entire trilogy? What would it have meant for Vader’s development, since Obi-Wan was his former Jedi master? These are the kinds of questions we’re now asking ourselves because, as it turns, Obi-Wan lived to fight another day in an earlier draft of the script.

Peter Mayhew, who reprised his role of Chewbacca for J.J. AbramsThe Force Awakens, has been tweeting pages of the original copy of his Star Wars script. Aside from definitively proving that Han Solo shot first at the Cantina, Mayhew also revealed pages that show the alternate outcome for Obi-Wan. If you’re having trouble reading the material in the tweet below, the script details the duel scene in which Obi-Wan deflecting Vader’s blow before cutting a safety lock that slams a blast door in between them. Stormtroopers attempt to accost him as he tries to escape to the Millennium Falcon, but Luke and Han blast them from afar. io9 also pointed out that the pages refer to Vader as a Sith, something that wasn’t explicitly stated in the film.


[EMBED_TWITTER]https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/720117645673119744[/EMBED_TWITTER]

If this outcome made it to the final theatrical cut, would this, in turn, have had an effect on Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Abrams included an overwhelming amount of references and recreations to the original trilogy, including — SPOILER ALERT — the death of Han Solo by his son, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). This scene mirrored the death of Obi-Wan and propelled Rey (Daisy Ridley) forward down the path to becoming a Jedi as the scene in A New Hope did for Luke. As Yoda says, rage leads one to the Dark Side of the Force, which would’ve possibly make the internal struggle of Luke (and, by comparison, Rey) less interesting.

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Image via Lucasfilm
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Image via Lucasfilm