Peter Mayhew Will Probably Retire From 'Star Wars'
Is Chewbacca himself about to hang up his crossbow?
Fresh off his most recent appearance as everybody’s favorite Wookiee and/or walking carpet in the billion-dollar hit Star Wars: The Force Awakens, actor Peter Mayhew took to his Twitter account today to announce that he would give fans a treat by posting some pages from his personal copy of George Lucas’ original script for Star Wars. Why, you ask? Well, it seems Mayhew is building up to a “big announcement” of sorts.
Mayhew hasn’t elaborated on the details of what the announcement could be, but if we search our feelings like a good Jedi would, it all becomes more clear.
Our best guess is that the 7’ 2”, 71-year-old actor, whose stature and age now require him to get around with the help of a pretty gnarly lightsaber cane, will announce his retirement from the Star Wars universe.
When the official Star Wars website recently announced the production-start of director Rian Johnson’s next installment Star Wars: Episode VIII, it declared that actors Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis would return. Conspicuously absent was the actor inside Chewbacca’s suit: Peter Mayhew.
Mayhew previously was included on the big official Star Wars cast announcement for The Force Awakens in April 2014. And while Mayhew did appear as Chewie in the movie, Finnish actor Joonas Suotamo was credited as the “Chewbacca Double” for the movie. Suotamo in’t credited yet on Episode VIII, according to IMDb, but it all adds up that Mayhew might be riding off into the Kashyyyk sunset.
The first pages of the original script he showcased on his Twitter account were a great look into how the story radically changed from its earliest iteration, which was then titled Journal of the Whills. Once his Twitter script reveals are over, it’ll all seem like a nice nostalgia send-off that Mayhew is giving himself, and he deserves it.
He’s been Han Solo’s furry companion since it all began in 1977. During the shoot of the original movie Mayhew continued his day job as a deputy head porter in a London hospital while shooting the movie in his off-hours. Needless to say, after Star Wars he quit that job and basically made an entire — nearly 40-year — career out of being the on-screen co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon.
It also seems fitting. Now that Harrison Ford won’t be around for Episode VIII, it’s perfect that Mayhew might retire under different circumstances from the galaxy far, far away. We’ll have to keep an eye on Mayhew’s Twitter account to find out.
