There is little doubt that Star Wars merchandise for A New Hope are now worth thousands of dollars. Interestingly, Mark Hamill has revealed that fans could have gotten their hands on Chewbacca masks when the first Star Wars film premiered. Unfortunately, George Lucas rejected the idea because of its unusual flaw.
Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew recently shared an awesome photo of Hamill with the mask on his official Twitter account. The post celebrated Wookiee Wednesday but also led to a surprising discovery about what could have been an amazing Star Wars toy.
Hamill retweeted the post with his own interesting story. Take a look at his tweet below.
"This pic is significant NOT because I was posing behind my 1-bedroom Malibu bachelor pad in a The Quick t-shirt. It's because that Chewy mask rarity was a rejected prototype George Lucas gave me because he didn't want the finished product to be snarling. (& yes-I still have it)," Hamill wrote.
It's certainly a strange reason to reject what could have been an awesome gift item. However, it's possible that Lucas was wary of Chewbacca being seen as a scary monster when Star Wars first came out.
But is it a real mask prototype? Fans were understandably wary of Hamill's story given the actor's love for trolling his Twitter followers. Nevertheless, we're a little sad that we never got to have those awesome Chewbacca masks back in the day.
Mayhew has since retired as the Wookiee and Joonas Soutamo has taken over the role of Chewbacca. Hamill and Chewie will return in Star Wars: Episode IX, which is still scheduled for release on December 20.
Related: Star Wars: Episode IX's Title Might Be Revealed This Week
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