All we ever get out of Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies is grunts and growls, his shyriiwook language untranslatable to us but understood by Han and his friends. But Chewie actor Peter Mayhew didn’t growl on the set—he actually spoke lines, and it’s kind of amazing to watch in action.
While it’s long been known that Mayhew would speak dialogue for his scenes in the Star Wars saga, there’s not much footage out there of the pre-dubbed sequences with out there. Thankfully the man himself shared some footage from filming The Empire Strikes Back, courtesy of documentarian Jamie Benning, over the weekend, and it’s as fascinating as it is hilarious:
Wonderful bit of stuff from @jamieswb!! pic.twitter.com/oObW8Cll2f
— Peter Mayhew Foundation (@TheWookieeRoars) November 5, 2016
I kind of want a cut of the original trilogy that doesn’t dub over Mayhew’s lines. An angrily British Chewbacca yelling “WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!?” to Han is too good not to want to see more.
