Star Wars played a huge role in making Harrison Ford a global icon. He got immense popularity after starring as Han Solo in the intergalactic space opera. However, this hasn’t stopped the actor from speaking about his most hated aspects of the franchise. While he hated several parts of Star Wars, Ewoks will always hold the very top spot in the list. Over the years, during different conversations, we have witnessed how the Ewoks never got any appreciation from Ford.
When Star Wars kickstarted with the Original Trilogy, it became a notable pop culture phenomenon for the audience. However, certain aspects have also raised a lot of conversations among the masses. Ewoks is one of them who have not only been controversial and objects of hate to Harrison Ford but also to a considerable section of the audience.
Were Ewoks the most disappointing thing in Star Wars?
Over the years, Star Wars has always been a major topic of conversation among the fans of pop culture. The franchise has given us three different trilogies along with a multitude of standalone projects. While the sequel trilogy is often considered a mess, the prequel movies also received their fair share of criticism. But one of the major controversies in the Original Trilogy has been the introduction of Ewoks by George Lucas.
The majority of Star Wars fans have always hated the residents of the Forest Moon of Endor and only viewed it as a way to earn money from merchandise sales. Besides the audience, Harrison Ford has also been a major hater of the species. Appearing in The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Harrison Ford and director J.J. Abrams took part in a comedy sketch that showed how the latter convinced the actor to appear in Episode VII.
J.J. Abrams, who wrote Regarding Henry for the Indiana Jones fame, asked the actor if he would like to return to the role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As the filmmaker tried to convince him further, he stated that Lawrence Kasdan would also return for the first movie in the Sequel Trilogy. Unfortunately, this was something that Harrison Ford didn’t want to hear because he hated how Kasdan incorporated the idea of Ewoks in Return of the Jedi– “He did the Ewok thing? I hated those Ewoks”.
Later, the actor who played the role of Han Solo in the prequel movie Solo: A Star Wars Story, Alden Ehrenreich, also spoke about Ford’s hatred towards the creatures. Ehrenreich took several notes from the veteran actor and admitted that the Blade Runner actor hated the Ewoks wholeheartedly.
Harrison Ford wanted to leave the franchise long ago
At a point, Harrison Ford was so done with the franchise that he repeatedly requested the creator George Lucas to kill Han Solo as soon as possible. No matter how strange it sounds, the characterization of Solo didn’t make much sense to Ford after some time. He felt that he was largely a side character to Mark Hamill’s Luke and Carrie Fisher’s Leia.
The 81-year-old actor was hellbent on the fact that Han Solo should have sacrificed himself for the other leads. However, George Lucas didn’t let that happen and forced Solo to stay alive till Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
Harrison Ford finally got his wish fulfilled after Solo met his end at the hands of his son Kylo Ren. Further, it was also revealed that the writer Lawrence Kasdan, whom Ford hated for creating Ewoks, also thought of killing Han Solo somewhere in the Original Trilogy. It was only due to George Lucas, he couldn’t implement the idea.
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Source: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
