CT So, when did Lucas decide Luke and Leia would be siblings?

If memory serves, Lucas did not have Leia in mind as Luke's sister when TESB was being filmed. Or at least that's what I read several years ago. Leia's ability to sense Luke calling to her at the end of TESB may have intended to be a hint. Whether it was or not, I believe it was a good confirmation and foreshadowing.

However, I'm wondering if Lucas decided that Leia would be Luke's sister during the production of ROTJ. Why? Because it looks like they are kissing again here in this ROTJ deleted scene. And in front of Han, no less. Ha ha.



I can't tell if it's on the cheek or the lips. Whatever the case, Han doesn't seem to mind. I'm willing to forgive it because it takes place well before Luke finds out the truth himself and tells Leia later in the film. At any rate, I can see why this scene was cut, and I think the kiss thing is one of a few good reasons.

At any rate, the guy narrating the deleted scene made a mistake because he seems to have forgotten that Luke's robotic hand was shot by one of Jabba's thugs. The video maker seemed to believe that the sandstorm blew the synthetic skin off the hand. Lol.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Lucas intended the Star Wars film saga to go on for 9 or 12 movies, and Luke would not meet the Emperor until the final film. Also, I believe Leia was not originally intended to be Luke's sister. Having said that, I'm glad he changed his mind. Honestly, I only find the kiss Leia gave Luke at the beginning of TESB awkward because she was trying to make Han jealous. The one she gave Luke after she and Lando rescued him is understandable, given how Luke was injured. She didn't know that they were related. So, it's forgivable. Lol.

 

No, he never planned for them to be brothers until ROTJ.
In the first film, it's clear that Luke takes a huge love interest in Leia, when he first sees her in the hologram,
and feels jealous when Han says he wanted to be with her.
He thought that the director of TESB, refused to direct the sequel precisely because he thought it illogical that they were brothers, after all the chemistry of the two in the previous films.

 

I don’t see how else Leia sensing where Luke is and hearing his call for help could be explained. The Leigh Brackett draft makes it clear that Luke’s sister is someone else, but it also makes it clear that Vader isn’t Luke’s father.

 

From the start, Lucas did intend for their to be siblings in the OT. In the first draft of ANH, Kane Starkiller had two sons. Annikan (17) and Deak (11). The latter is killed within the first "few minutes". In draft number two, there were actually five sons. Cliegg (age unknown), Deak (25), Luke (17), Biggs and Windy (7). Cliegg has died off screen. The twins only appear on Utapau, where they're being raised by the Lars, who are also training Luke. In the third draft, Luke appears to be an only child. With TESB, Lucas and Brackket wanted to refer to Luke's sister Nela, who was hidden elsewhere. This was dropped when Lucas wrote the second draft and included an early version of "There is another".

"In the end I had a problem in the fight between Luke and his father of why he makes the final turn--Luke makes the final turn to the bad side of the Force and tries to kill his father. Richard [Marquand] was trying to block out the fight between Luke and Vader and we got down to that point underneath the throne room there and he said, 'You know the script sort of says that Vader says something that upsets Luke,' or something vague like that. I can't remember exactly what the script said but it was a very vague...spark. And we didn't have that actual moment that we needed where you got the sense that Luke is hiding. He's not going to fight him. He refuses to fight. He'd rather die first and then something turns him around and makes him fight. And I never really came up with a satisfactory answer to that of what he could possibly say to set Luke off. And in the process of evolving the script and evolving the importance of Leia as the sister, it was sitting right there in front of my face and it became obvious that turning her to the dark side would be the thing that would set Luke off again."

--George Lucas, ROTJ Annotated Screenplay; 1999.

"At the center of the movie is a lot of exposition, it's a lot of explaining what has happened, and why things are the way they are. In this particular case, there is a whole issue of Luke's sister, and you know, the fact that they were twins. Which is an element that has to be revealed, which comes in later, in terms of who is the 'other' that was talked about in Empire Strikes Back. And how could that person become as powerful as Luke? Well obviously if they were twins, then if she were trained, then, she has the same abilities as Luke has. That becomes an important issue, especially in terms of resolving all the love triangles."

--George Lucas, ROTJ DVD Commentary.

 

I can see why Kershner would think that. I know what you mean, but it's siblings. It's not like Leia was a trans man. But that would be interesting. All good. I sometimes make mistakes like that myself.

 

Can't seem to understand how some people get so worked up about that harmless kiss in the ROTJ deleted scene. That was nothing like the one in ESB. In ESB AND beginning of ROTJ they simply didn't know, justification enough IMO. It's time for people to get over that. There was absolutely nothing even remotely sexual about it.

 

I also don't get why Luke and Leia's kiss or Luke's interest in her should negate them eventually turning out to be siblings. If anything it's humorous, cringe-larious. It can also help explain their chemstry. They're not soulmates, they're twins.

 

Think that could possibly have been explained by Luke focussing on Leia with the force. Similar to a jedi mind trick, maybe everyone, even non force sensitives, could be reached if a force user concentrates his/her thoughts on them.

 

That is easy to explain, Luke is reaching out to her, he is speaking in her mind.
So she isn't sensing him as such, he is speaking to her and she is listening.
Vader is able to speak to Luke in ESB, in much the same way. So Force users can speak in the minds of others, that os established.
The film makes no mention that this other has to be a relation or Force sensitive for that to work.

So to answer the OP, Leia became Luke's sibling when making RotJ.
The Luke character had other siblings in earlier drafts of ANH and the first draft of ESB had a sister, Nellith.

I think that Leia became "another" simply because Lucas had to tie up that plot point. And to end the love triangle and give Luke a reason to loose it.
But to the first, the "another" was a dangling plot thread and leaving it unanswered with Lucas tired of SW and not wanting to do more SW films, would be unsatisfying. And would likely cause fans to demand more films to get an answer.

Introducing a new character in the third film would take time and the third film had a lot of wrap up.
So the other had to be an existing character.
Taking a minor character like Wedge and making him the other would also take time so not very practical.
For main characters, the droids were out as were Chewie. Lando likewise as he had only come into ESB towards the end and was bit shady. So that left Han and Leia. And Han had been too much of a cynic to work as a Jedi plus Harrison was tired of SW as well. So Leia was the only choice.

Bye for now.
Old Stoneface

 

What? In ESB it was definatly sexual, she kissed him on the lips while he was semi unconscious.

 

^ I know we're all different, but to me there's nothing sexual about that.

 

First of all, Luke was 100% conscious. Secondly, neither he, Leia nor the audience knew anything about them being brother and sister. And I think it's safe to assume that Lucas didn't know at that point either. As I said, people need to get over that harmless little kiss. I was a teen when I first saw ESB, and to me that scene was always just humorous, never "sexual" in any way. If you insist on it being sexual, well, that's kind of your opinion, not universal truth.

 

HAN: "No. That's not it. Come on."

LEIA: "You're imagining things."

HAN: "Am I? Then why are you following me? Afraid I'd leave without giving you a goodbye kiss?"

LEIA: "I'd just as soon kiss a Wookiee."

HAN: "I can arrange that. You could use a good kiss!"

As I've long said, the romantic triangle wound up being cut out of TESB, when the conversation about Luke leaving was cut. The end result of Lucas, Kershner and Hirsch cutting it out effectively ended it. All that's left is a clearly one-on-one relationship. It was evident before ROTJ was written. Thus Leia kisses Luke in order to make Han jealous.

 

This is an issue that Star Wars fans will discuss until the end of world. But there's nothing wrong with that.