Gary Kurtz Interview and the Death of Han Solo in Return of the Jedi

We've gotten some info from Kurtz about this before- here's all the stuff I've gotten from his past comments:


Although it is often claimed by George Lucas that Star Wars was always intended as part of a series (originally nine parts, later six), producer Kurtz, Gary claimed differently in a interview in 1999. According to Kurtz, Star Wars was meant to be a standalone film. It was only after the film's incredible success that he and Lucas got together to consider sequels. They came up with the idea that Star Wars was the fourth story of a nine-part series and penned rough outlines for each episode. After releasing the "fifth" episode (The Empire Strikes Back (1980)), Lucas made Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) with Spielberg, Steven. The success of this film convinced Lucas to increase the emphasis on action in the "sixth" Star Wars episode. According to Kurtz, the Emperor was not originally going to make an appearance until episode 9. Luke and Leia were not brother and sister. There was no Death Star II. The search for Han Solo was the main plot of the film, during which Luke would have furthered his Jedi training. Solo was going to die in the final battle. Luke was going to go off to complete/continue his Jedi training and Leia was going to resume her position as Queen of her people, separating the major characters in a "downer" ending similar to that of Episode 5. Kurtz strongly objected to Lucas' changes and insisted they should stay with the story they had originally planned. Lucas just as strongly disagreed and the two parted company. (Kurtz left to make Dark Crystal, The (1982) with Henson, Jim and hasn't worked with Lucas since.)

From TF.N:

Gary Kurtz Reveals Original Plans for Episodes 1-9
Wed, May 26, 99 12:08:05 AM EST

Gary Kurtz, the producer of ANH and ESB, spoke at the Sci-Fi Expo in Plano, TX this weekend along with his daughters Tiffany and Melissa (as children they played Jawas in ANH). He shared with the crowd about meeting Lucas, leaving the Star Wars films and the original plans for the entire saga.

Back in the early 70s, Kurtz was looking to use the new Technoscope technology in an upcoming film. Francis Ford Coppola hooked him up with George Lucas who had recently filmed TXH-1138 with Technoscope. Kurtz became interested in Lucas' planned American Graffiti and the partnership was born.

When the time came to produce ROTJ, Kurtz was unhappy with the story direction Lucas was taking. He felt that it was too much of a rehash of the first films with no real challenges. At the same time, Jim Henson was inviting him to produce his experimental film, Dark Crystal, which he chose instead.

Kurtz gave TPM a mixed review as he was clouded by plans made for Episode 1 back in the early 70s. As someone involved with Star Wars from the initial concepts, Kurtz revealed the original intentions for the nine films as they were laid out BEFORE 1980. Very interesting.

EPISODE 1: Was to focus on the origins of the Jedi Knights and how they are initiated and trained
EPISODE 2: Introduction and development of Obi-Wan Kenobi
EPISODE 3: Introduction and life of Vader
EPISODE 4: There were seven different drafts of the film. At one point, they pursued buying the rights to Hidden Fortress because of the strong similarities. At one point, Luke was a female, Han was Luke's brother, Luke's father was the one in prison (interesting point for some debates) and the film featured 40 wookies
EPISODE 5: Once written, the screenplay of Empire is almost exactly what is seen on screen. The only cut scenes were those involving wampas in the rebel base (cut because of time and unsolved technical glitches) and about two minutes of Luke/Yoda Jedi training with no real dialog.
EPISODE 6: Leia was to be elected "Queen of her people" leaving her isolated. Han was to die. Luke confronted Vader and went on with his life alone. Leia was not to be Luke's sister.
EPISODE 7: Third trilogy was to focus on Luke's life as a Jedi, with very few details planned out.
EPISODE 8: Luke's sister (not Leia) appears from another par