--- description: "I was thinking mythologically," says the filmmaker. title: George Lucas Explains Why Greedo Shoots Han Solo First in 'Star Wars' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89cedc462d56370a/69887308428a9e1593cd051b/star-wars-greedo-han-solo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # George Lucas Explains Why Greedo Shoots Han Solo First in _Star Wars_ by [James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 30, 2015 6:38 PM CUT  Twentieth Century Fox/Lucasfilm by [James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 30, 2015 6:38 PM CUT Deep inside [a compelling _Washington Post_ profile](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/george-lucas-to-feel-the-true-force-of-star-wars-he-had-to-learn-to-let-it-go/2015/11/27/d752067a-8b1f-11e5-be8b-1ae2e4f50f76%5Fstory.html "undefined") of George Lucas is the _Star Wars_ creator defending perhaps his most infamous bit of Special Edition tinkering: having Greedo shoot Han Solo first rather than the scruffy-looking smuggler taking a pre-emptive action. Lucas says Han shooting first in the Mos Eisley cantina — which is what happened in the original edit of 1977’s debut _Star Wars_ film — ran against the character’s principles. “Han Solo was going to marry Leia, and you look back and say, ‘Should he be a cold-blooded killer?’” Lucas asks. “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.” In our [recent interview with Harrison Ford](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/11/11/harrison-ford-is-han-solo/ "undefined"), the actor refused to take a side on the Who Shot First debate. “Knock yourself out,” he said. “Have fun with it.” Fans have long maintained that Lucas was just flat-out wrong on this one. The shooting established Ford’s character as somebody not to be messed with, and in the scene it’s pretty clear that Greedo is going to kill Han regardless (“Over my dead body” / “That’s the idea”). So Han waiting for Greedo to take a shot at him while at point blank range doesn’t make any sense. But Lucas won’t read that, or your comment below, because he also admitted in the interview that he has “assiduously avoided the Internet since 2000 — no Facebook, no Twitter, no e-mail even.” The first of the oft-derided _Star Wars_ prequel movies, _The Phantom Menace_, was released in 1999, so that was probably indeed a good time to bail out. Read that whole _WashPost_ story [here](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/george-lucas-to-feel-the-true-force-of-star-wars-he-had-to-learn-to-let-it-go/2015/11/27/d752067a-8b1f-11e5-be8b-1ae2e4f50f76%5Fstory.html "undefined"). See both versions of the Han vs. Greedo scene below: _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/11/30/george-lucas-han-shoot-first "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4129406/star-wars-george-lucas/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4129406/star-wars-george-lucas/"},"headline":"George Lucas Explains Why Greedo Shoots Han Solo First in Star Wars","datePublished":"2015-11-30T18:38:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:57:53.911Z","description":"\"I was thinking mythologically,\" says the filmmaker","url":"https://time.com/4129406/star-wars-george-lucas/","keywords":["movies","Star Wars topic","george lucas","Han Solo"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89cedc462d56370a/69887308428a9e1593cd051b/star-wars-greedo-han-solo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89cedc462d56370a/69887308428a9e1593cd051b/star-wars-greedo-han-solo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"star-wars-greedo-han-solo","caption":"","creditText":"Twentieth Century Fox/Lucasfilm","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4129406/star-wars-george-lucas/","name":"George Lucas Explains Why Greedo Shoots Han Solo First in Star Wars"}}]}] ```