Chewbacca (/tʃuːˈbɑːkə/choo-BAH-kə), nicknamed "Chewie", is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He is a Wookiee—a tall, hairy, highly intelligent species originating from the fictional planet Kashyyyk.[1][2] He first appeared in the original film trilogy as the loyal friend of the smuggler Han Solo. He was also the co-pilot of Han's starship, the Millennium Falcon.[3][4] Chewbacca is portrayed by Peter Mayhew in five films.[4] In The Force Awakens, Mayhew shares the role with Joonas Suotamo, who took over the portrayal for subsequent films. Chewbacca has also appeared in television series, books, comics, and video games.
Profile
Standing 7.5 feet (2.3 m) tall, Chewbacca is covered with long hair and typically wears only a bandolier and a tool pouch.[3][5] He carries a bowcaster, a traditional Wookiee weapon, and speaks Shyriiwook, the Wookiee language of Kashyyyk.[6][7]
History
Chewbacca was born in the year 200 BBY on the planet Kashyyyk.[citation needed] During the Clone Wars, he was captured and hunted for sport, but managed to escape with fellow captive Ahsoka Tano. During one of the final battles of the Wars, he fought alongside Republic forces against Separatist droids. After the Wars, he was separated from his family and tribe, and became a fugitive. Betrayed by a bounty hunter, Chewbacca was imprisoned by the Empire. He escaped with a young Imperial deserter named Han Solo, an encounter that marked the beginning of a long friendship. After a series of perilous adventures, the two embarked on a career in the smuggling trade aboard Han's ship, the Millenium Falcon.
While on Tatooine, Chewbacca and Han were hired to transport Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker to Alderaan. When they reached their destination, they found the planet obliterated; it had been destroyed by the Empire’s Death Star, and their ship was caught in the space station's tractor beam. With Han and Luke disguised as stormtroopers and Chewbacca posing as a prisoner, they rescued Princess Leia from captivity. Later, Chewbacca and Han helped Luke destroy the Death Star.
Chewbacca and Han planned to leave the Rebellion to pay off a debt to Jabba the Hutt, but were drawn back into the war when the Empire assaulted the Rebel base. Chewbacca, Han and Leia sought refuge in Cloud City with Han's friend Lando Calrissian, unaware that Lando had unwillingly betrayed them to the Empire. Darth Vader froze Han in carbonite and gave him to the bounty hunter Boba Fett, who planned to sell him to Jabba.
Chewbacca arrived at Jabba's palace in the custody of a bounty hunter, who was actually Leia in disguise. She liberated Han from the carbonite, but was quickly captured by Jabba, who tried to feed the group of friends to a sarlacc. They escaped, however, and then rejoined the Rebels. Chewbacca then accompanied Han and Leia to the forest moon of Endor to deactivate the shield generator for the second Death Star. After the mission succeeded and Rebel pilots destroyed the space station, Chewbacca joined his friends in celebration. Later, the Wookiee played a key role in liberating Kashyyyk from Imperial forces.
Chewbacca returned to his family for a time, but rejoined Han in the smugglig trade after Han and Leia’s relationship foundered. When the galaxy was again engulfed by war, Chewbacca and Han recovered the Falcon—which they had lost—and helped the Resistance fight against the First Order. During a Rebel assault on Starkiller Base, Han was killed by his son, Kylo Ren. After helping to destroy the base, Chewbacca accompanied Rey to the planet Ahch-To, where she received a limited amount of training from Luke. When the Resistance began preparing for a climactic fight on Exegol, Chewbacca and Lando recruited ordinary galactic citizens to the cause. Their makeshift fleet helped the Resistance defeat the First Order and its Sith allies.[3]
Creation
George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars franchise, invented many fictional characters while writing the original 1977 Star Wars film (which was later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope). Chewbacca was inspired by his dog, an Alaskan Malamute named Indiana. She would sit in the passenger seat of his car when he was driving, and he referred to her as his "co-pilot".[8][9] Chewbacca's name was derived from the Russian word sobaka (собака), which means "dog".[10][11] In France, the character's name was changed to Chiktabba in A New Hope, and his nickname was Chico.[12]
Portrayals
Chewbacca is portrayed by Peter Mayhew in the original trilogy (1977-1983) and in the final film of the prequel trilogy, Revenge of the Sith (2005). Mayhew, who was cast primarily for his height of 7 feet 3 inches (2.21 m),[13][14] shares the role with his body double, Joonas Suotamo, in The Force Awakens (2015), the first film of the sequel trilogy. Following Mayhew's retirement in 2017, Suotamo took over the role, appearing in The Last Jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019), the second and third films of the sequel trilogy.[15] He also played Chewbacca in the standalone film Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).[16]
For the original trilogy and the Star Wars Holiday Special, five similar Chewbacca costumes were created by Stuart Freeborn and his wife Kay Freeborn, who hand-knitted the torso sections. The suits were made of yak hair and mohair.[citation needed] The sound designer Ben Burtt created Chewbacca's voice by mixing together recordings of four bears, a badger, a lion, a seal, and a walrus.[17]
Appearances in the official canon
Chewbacca's appearances are presented here chronologically in-universe.
Chewbacca is captured by hunters, but escapes with fellow captive Ahsoka Tano. He and Ahsoka attack the hunters' fortress with the help of other Wookiees.
Chewbacca meets Han Solo when they are both captured by the Empire. They escape and join the crew of the thief Tobias Beckett. After a series of adventures, Beckett turns traitor and captures Chewbacca. Han saves his Wookiee friend and wins ownership of the Falcon from Lando Calrissian.
Chewbacca and Han take Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi to Alderaan. When they find the planet obliterated by the Death Star, they help their passengers rescue the Rebel leader Princess Leia. Chewbacca and Han later help Luke destroy the Death Star.
0 BBY
Chewbacca
Comic
2015
Chewbacca crash-lands on an Imperial-occupied planet, and finds himself caught between trying to return to the Rebellion and helping a young girl in need.[19]
Chewbacca and Han plan to leave the Rebellion to pay off a debt to Jabba the Hutt, but are drawn back into the war when the Empire assaults the Rebel base. Chewbacca, Han and Leia seek refuge in Cloud City with Han's friend Lando, unaware that he was forced to betray them to the Empire. Before Han is frozen in carbonite and sold to Jabba, he asks Chewbacca to look after Leia.
Chewbacca arrives at Jabba's palace in the custody of a bounty hunter, who is actually Leia in disguise. When Jabba attempts to feed Chewbacca and his friends to a sarlacc, he helps the others rescue Han and escape. After rejoining the Rebels, he accompanies Han and Leia to Endor to deactivate the shield generator for the second Death Star. After the space station is destroyed, he joins the other Rebels and Ewoks in celebrating the fall of the Empire.
Chewbacca and Han find the Falcon, which they had lost years ago. They bring the scavenger Rey and the rogue First Order stormtrooper Finn to Maz Kanata on a mission for the Resistance. The First Order arrives and captures Rey, but the others escape. While attempting to disable the shield protecting Starkiller Base, Chewbacca witnesses the death of Han at the hands of his son, Kylo Ren. The Wookiee then sets off explosives that allow the Resistance to destroy the base.
Chewbacca and Rey land on Ahch-To, where Luke is living in exile. After Rey trains with Luke, Chewbacca and Rey fly to Snoke's flagship so Rey can attempt to turn Ren back from the dark side of the Force. Chewbacca then helps the Resistance fight the First Order.
While Chewbacca and his friends are searching for a Sith wayfinder, the Wookiee is taken captive on a ship. Rey tries to stop the ship from leaving, but accidentally destroys it with Force lightning. She believes she has killed Chewbacca, but later discovers that he is alive. Finn and Poe Dameron bring him back to the Rebel base, where he learns of Leia's death. While the Resistance attacks the Sith Eternal forces on Exegol, Chewbacca and Lando recruit additional fighters. After the Sith fleet is destroyed, Maz gives Chewbacca a medal.
In April 2014, most of the licensed Star Wars novels and comics produced since 1977 were rebranded by Lucasfilm as Star Wars Legends and declared non-canon to the franchise.[20][21][22]
Television
The 1978 television program Star Wars Holiday Special introduced Chewbacca's wife Mallatobuck, his son Lumpawarrump, and his father Attichitcuk, who is also the Chief of the Kaapauku Tribe.[23] The special features a frame story in which Chewbacca and Han travel to Kashyyyk to celebrate Life Day with Chewbacca's family, while trying to prevent Darth Vader from spoiling the holiday for them.[24] Life Day and all of Chewbacca's family are part of the current Star Wars canon, but the special itself is not.[citation needed]
Novels
Chewbacca appears in the Han Solo Adventures trilogy written by Brian Daley, including Han Solo at Stars' End, Han Solo's Revenge and Han Solo and the Lost Legacy, originally published between 1979 and 1980. Chewbacca's family is prominently featured in The Wookiee Storybook, The Black Fleet Crisis trilogy by Michael P. Kube-McDowell, and The Hutt Gambit and Rebel Dawn by A. C. Crispin. The latter introduces Chewbacca's sister Kallabow, his cousins Dryanta and Jowdrrl, and the Wookiee matriarch, Ellen. The Hutt Gambit explains how Chewbacca and Han first meet. While a lieutenant in the Imperial Navy, Han finds the Wookiee unconscious aboard a slave ship. Han's commanding officer orders him to skin Chewbacca, but Han refuses and rescues him. Upon regaining consciousness, Chewbacca swears a "life-debt" to Han, and the two become business partners and best friends.
In Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, set just after the events of Revenge of the Sith, Chewbacca is forced to leave Kashyyyk after he narrowly escapes a major Imperial attack on the planet. Vader and the Emperor enslave most of Kashyyyk's population to construct the Death Star. To escape, Chewbacca joins a group of smugglers who are friendly to the Jedi. In Heirs of the Force, part of the Young Jedi Knights series, Chewbacca's nephew Lowbacca goes to the Jedi Academy. In the 1999 novel Vector Prime by R. A. Salvatore, the first in the New Jedi Order series, Chewbacca sacrifices his life to save Han's son Anakin from a collision between the planet Sernpidal and one of its moons. Lumpawarrump and Lowbacca offer to assume Chewbacca's life debt to Han. Lucasfilm followed Vector Prime with a four-issue comic book titled Star Wars: Chewbacca, in which C-3PO and R2-D2 travel the galaxy to collect the stories of beings who knew or met the Wookiee.
Chewbacca appears in the third book of the Origami Yoda series, The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee (in origami form) and in some of the subsequent books of the series.
Video games
In the fighting game Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi, Chewbacca is a playable character. In Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, he appears briefly at the Mos Eisley spaceport as a non-playable character. He assists Jaden Korr in disabling the tractor beams that are holding both the Millennium Falcon and the Raven's Claw captive. In LucasArts' game Kinect Star Wars, the player acts as a gunner on a spacecraft piloted by a young Chewbacca.
The Chewbacca defense is a legal strategy in which a criminal defense lawyer tries to confuse the jury rather than refute the case of the prosecutor. It is an intentional distraction or obfuscation. The term "Chewbacca defense" comes from "Chef Aid", an episode of the American animated series South Park. The episode, which premiered on October 7, 1998, satirizes the O. J. Simpson murder trial, particularly attorney Johnnie Cochran's closing argument for the defense. In the episode, a fictionalized version of Cochran bases his argument on a false premise about the 1983 film Return of the Jedi. He asks the jury why a Wookiee like Chewbacca would want to live on Endor with the much smaller Ewoks when "it does not make sense". He argues that if Chewbacca living on Endor does not make sense—and if even mentioning Chewbacca in the case does not make sense—then the jury must acquit.[26]
Chewbacca Mask Lady is a viral video featuring 37-year-old Texan mother Candace Payne filming herself laughing heartily while wearing a Chewbacca mask. The video became so popular that the mask sold out from every online retailer.[27] Payne was interviewed on multiple television shows as a result of the video, and was given more than $420,000 worth of scholarships, gift cards, event tickets, merchandise and other gifts by various businesses and organizations.[28][29] During a visit to Hasbro headquarters, she was given a Chewbacca Mom action figure.[30] Payne's video is the most-viewed Facebook Live video of all time.[31]
