The original Star Wars trilogy had many twists and turns that gripped the fandom. One of them was the reveal that protagonists Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia were twins in the third film Return of the Jedi. While this made the two closer, what made the reveal weirder was the kiss the duo shared just one movie ago in The Empire Strikes Back.
The lead pair in the films have been Leia and Han Solo, with both of them following the enemies-to-lovers trope throughout the trilogy. However, a recent X user started to campaign for Luke and Leia to be together instead, much to the annoyance of other Star Wars fans.
Why Did George Lucas Make Luke And Leia Siblings in Star Wars?
Hints of another Skywalker were dropped in the film Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back when Master Yoda reveals to the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi that Luke is not the last hope for the galaxy’s survival and that there was another one. George Lucas reportedly did not intend to make Luke and Leia siblings when he first conceived the story.
Lucas reportedly mentioned in a DVD commentary (via ScreenRant) that the concept of another was brought in to increase the tension of the scene and the story. He said,
“It sets up the fact that, in this series, Luke could be expendable at this point. We don’t need Luke to tell this story. We could get somebody else to do it… ‘He’s not the important one – there is another.’ It’s a cheap trick but it works.”
Lucas’ initial plans reportedly involved Luke having a sister that was not Leia, and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi would end with Luke searching for his sister. Lucas planned to make a sequel trilogy (unlike the present one) that explored this journey. Producer Gary Kutz mentioned in an interview with Film Threat what Lucas’ original plans for Star Wars were,
“So the story was quite a bit more poignant and the ending was the coronation of Leia as the queen of what was left of her people, to take over the royal symbol. That meant she was then isolated from all of the rest and Luke went off then by himself…She’s not his sister that dropped in to wrap up everything neatly. His sister was someone else way over on the other side of the galaxy and she wasn’t going to show up until the next episode.”
However, these plans failed to materialize, leading to Lucas revealing in Return of the Jedi that Leia was Luke’s long-lost twin sister.
Star Wars Fans Campaign For Leia To End Up With Leia
The retcon of Luke’s sister being Princess Leia in Star Wars makes the build-up to their romance in Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back quite weird. In the latter especially, Luke and Leia share two kisses, and according to a deleted scene, they share an intimate moment before the kiss.
While the kiss is made to seem that Leia is trying to make Han Solo jealous, there are hints of a love triangle throughout the trilogy, until the twist. While Leia ends up with Han Solo, recently an X user asked Star Wars fans about their opinion on the alternative.
The user asks, “Do you think Leia should have ended up with Luke instead of Han Solo?”, much to the outrage of some fans who brand it as incest, much like the infamous pairing of Jamie and Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones.
THEYRE SIBLINGS. DELETE.
— CLOSED ❤️🔥 (@parkersrodrigo) October 21, 2023
Hell no. That’s incest.
— Popcorn Unhinged (@catwantsin) October 21, 2023
— Chikin52 (@chikin52) October 22, 2023
Farm for those engagements lmao
— Raatma Disciple 🐀 (@AGiantPorkChop) October 21, 2023
Is this the Game of Thrones mash up no one’s asked for?
— the northlondonhippy (@nthlondonhippy) October 21, 2023
While Star Wars fans might have accepted the siblings, some seem to have gone rogue. Knowing that George Lucas did not initially plan to make them siblings, fans can wonder where the relationship between the two might have ended up.
