The Star Wars original trilogy introduced viewers to a galaxy far, far away, though many crucial events are referenced rather than shown. Inspired by classic writers and filmmakers of his day, George Lucas crafted a deeply immersive science-fantasy universe that, ultimately, proved too large to fit into movie trilogies. While many of the unseen events in the original Star Wars trilogy would go on to be depicted in the prequel trilogy in the 90s and 2000s, most are depicted in the franchise’s non-movie material.
Star Wars has been a multimedia franchise since it began in 1977, with Marvel Comics publishing some of the franchise’s first original stories after the first Star Wars movie (later titled A New Hope). The Star Wars franchise would quickly grow to include not only films and comics, but also novels, radio dramas, spinoff movies, animated and live-action TV shows, and video games. The franchise would even undergo a partial reboot in 2014, with the original and prequel trilogies remaining part of both the Legends continuity and the new canon. In both timelines, these materials expanded the lore of the Star Wars galaxy and properly depicted the following 12 events only referenced in the original trilogy.
12 Theft Of The Death Star Plans
A New Hope
The most important offscreen event in A New Hope is the theft of the Death Star plans, with this success serving as the catalyst for the film’s storyline. Four years after A New Hope‘s release, the movie received a radio drama with an extended prologue that depicted the Battle of Toprawa, a costly Rebel victory that concluded with doomed Rebel spies beaming the Death Star schematics to Princess Leia. This was later expanded on in other Legends works, which revealed portions of the plans were stolen in multiple missions. The canon version was ultimately told in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which replaced Toprawa with Scarif, and saw Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso prove herself a rebel hero.
11 Luke’s Friendship With Biggs
A New Hope
Luke Skywalker mentions his close friend, Biggs Darklighter, several times in A New Hope’s first act, and the two fly together in the film’s finale, only for Biggs to be shot down by Darth Vader. The 1997 Special Edition added a scene in which Luke and Biggs reunite before the Battle of Yavin, but the filmed sequences of the two interacting on Tatooine remained deleted scenes. These scenes would be canonized, however, by A New Hope’s Legends-era adaptations. Biggs and Luke’s friendship would also be thoroughly explored in various canon and Legends non-movie materials.
10 Darth Vader Hunts Down The Jedi
A New Hope
Obi-Wan Kenobi references the rise of Darth Vader and the Sith Lord hunting down the Jedi Knights early on in A New Hope. While Vader’s full backstory would be explored in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, the movies only show a portion of Order 66 and the Jedi Purge. Darth Vader and a contingent of clone troopers (who were unwillingly brainwashed into Imperial service) sacked the Jedi Temple, but the Purge continued long after Order 66. As shown in various canon and Legends non-movie properties, Darth Vader would personally hunt down and slaughter surviving Jedi Knights who proved too dangerous to be dispatched by the Imperial military and the Imperial Inquisitors.
9 The Emperor Dissolves The Imperial Senate
A New Hope
Grand Moff Tarkin reveals early on in A New Hope that Emperor Palpatine dissolved the Imperial Senate, thus removing “the last remnant” of the Old Republic. Indeed, with the Jedi Knights all but wiped out, the clone troopers having been replaced by recruited stormtroopers, and the Republic now a totalitarian hellscape, Tarkin’s words rang true; but the Imperial Senate’s functionality was, of course, always pretense at best. Fascinatingly, the dissolution of the Imperial Senate has yet to be shown in canon or Legends, though many other properties also reference it.
8 The Bounty Hunter On Ord Mantell
The Empire Strikes Back
After three years of serving the Rebellion, Han Solo decides to leave at the start of The Empire Strikes Back. He mentions an encounter with a bounty hunter on Ord Mantell that led him to prioritize paying his debt to Jabba the Hutt. Unsurprisingly, as a fugitive of the crime lord, Han Solo had many encounters with bounty hunters before Empire, and in Legends several took place on Ord Mantell. It’s unclear which one he was referencing, but it’s generally believed he was referencing a bounty hunter named Skorr. Star Wars canon has yet to show its version of the incident Han references in Empire.
7 Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Training
The Empire Strikes Back
Luke Skywalker’s Jedi training on Dagobah takes place over roughly a month, with only portions of his tutelage shown in The Empire Strikes Back. Both the canon and Legends continuities show more of Luke’s training than the movie, however, with their respective film novelizations including additional portions of Luke’s grueling tutelage. While most of Luke’s training remains unseen in both continuities, various comics and animated web shorts from both canon and Legends continue to depict Luke’s time on Dagobah.
6 Boba Fett’s History With The Rebel Heroes
The Empire Strikes Back
The fan-favorite Boba Fett is already familiar with the original trilogy heroes by the events of the original trilogy, with a recently-unfrozen Han Solo nearly panicking upon hearing that he entered the fray in Return of the Jedi’s Act 1 battle. Interestingly, one of Fett’s encounters with the heroes was released before Empire, with the bounty hunter making his onscreen debut in The Star Wars Holiday Special. Fett’s established history with the heroes is shown in various Legends-era works. In the new canon, however, Fett’s only depicted encounter with one of the Rebel heroes before Empire is his battle with Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 in Marvel’s modern Star Wars comics.
5 Han Solo & Lando Calrissian’s Past
The Empire Strikes Back
Han Solo mentions a long history with Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back, referring to him as his friend, though Calrissian is hardly pleased to see Solo. The Legends continuity explores their long history before the events of Empire, with works like A. C. Crispin’s Han Solo Trilogy and Underworld: The Yavin Vassilika (by Mike Kennedy and Carlos Meglia), establishing them as friends and allies, though their last interactions before Empire leave them on bad terms. In the new Star Wars canon, Han and Lando’s entire history before Empire is shown in Solo: A Star Wars Story, with their final encounter being Solo winning the Millennium Falcon by cheating at sabacc.
4 Luke Building His Green-Bladed Lightsaber
Return of the Jedi
Luke Skywalker’s green-bladed lightsaber was built before the events of 1983’s Return of the Jedi, but its construction was not shown until 1996’s Shadows of the Empire, by Steve Perry. Luke methodically acquired the necessary components for the weapon on Tatooine but consulted a journal left for him by Obi-Wan Kenobi to give the lightsaber its power source: a Force-imbued crystal. With few natural sources of crystals allowed to exist during the reign of the Empire, Luke synthesized one using the Force and special technology in Kenobi’s home. In the new canon, Luke acquires and bonds with a Kyber crystal on Christophsis, as shown in Marvel’s modern Star Wars comics. The full canon story of Luke’s green lightsaber is yet to be told.
3 Boba Fett Escapes The Sarlacc
Return of the Jedi
Considering Boba Fett’s fan-favorite status and infamously underwhelming defeat in Return of the Jedi, his escape from the sarlacc was inevitable. In the Legends continuity, this is first shown in Marvel’s classic Star Wars comics; this was undone by the end of the issue, likely due to the Marvel creatives not wanting to make such a major change to the recent movie’s story so soon. Fett would escape again (and for good) in A Barve Like That: The Tale of Boba Fett, by Daniel Keys Moran. Boba Fett made his triumphant return in the new canon as well, as shown in The Book of Boba Fett episode 1.
2 The Theft Of The Death Star II Plans (& Death Of Many Bothans)
Return of the Jedi
According to Return of the Jedi, the theft of the Second Death Star’s schematics and confirmation it was in the Endor system came at the cost of many Bothan lives. Legends depicted these events, with the costly Battle of Kothlis; they were told in the Shadows of the Empire multimedia project, as well as the video games Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. Only some of these events have been shown in canon properties, such as in Claudia Gray’s Lost Stars. The new canon, however, only shows part of these events in Claudia Gray’s Lost Stars. Moreover, the new canon is not clear on what, precisely, a Bothan is, while Legends established them as a species.
1 Luke Skywalker Passes On What He Has Learned
Return of the Jedi
Return of the Jedi sets up Luke Skywalker reestablishing the Jedi Order. This is Luke’s main arc in Legends, with Luke’s growth involving plenty of failures and errors in judgment – but it is, ultimately, a satisfying continuation of this story. The new canon, controversially, has Luke repeat the errors of the prequel-era Jedi in his new generation, dooming them to near-destruction yet again and leading Luke to repeat his Return of the Jedi character arc in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
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