Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - Cast

Cast

• Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker: Luke is a young man who was raised by his aunt and uncle on the remote, desert world Tatooine. He dreams of something greater than his current position in life and eventually finds it. This is Hamill's film debut.
• Harrison Ford as Han Solo: Han is a cynical smuggler whom Luke and Obi-Wan meet at the Mos Eisley Cantina. They hire him to take them to Alderaan in his ship, the Millennium Falcon, which is co-piloted by Chewbacca.
• Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa: Leia is a member of the Imperial Senate and a leader of the Rebel Alliance. She plans to use the stolen Death Star plans to find the station's weakness.
• Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi: Obi-Wan is an aging man who served as a Jedi Knight and then Jedi Master during the Clone Wars. Early in the film, Kenobi introduces Luke to the Force.
• Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin: Tarkin is the commander of the Death Star and a Regional Governor of the Galaxy. He leads the search for the Rebel Base, hoping to destroy it. He is the main antagonist of the film.
• David Prowse as Darth Vader: Vader is a Dark Lord of the Sith and a prominent figure of the Galactic Empire who hopes to destroy the Rebel Alliance. He is voiced by James Earl Jones.
• Anthony Daniels as C-3PO: 3PO is a protocol and interpreter droid who also falls into Luke's hands. He is rarely without his counterpart droid, R2-D2.
• Kenny Baker as R2-D2: R2 is an astromech droid who is carrying the Death Star plans and a secret message for Obi-Wan from Princess Leia.
• Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca: Chewie is Han Solo's sidekick, a 200 year old Wookiee and first mate of the Millennium Falcon.

Lucas shared a joint casting session with long-time friend Brian De Palma, who was casting his own film Carrie. As a result, Carrie Fisher and Sissy Spacek auditioned for both films in each other's respective roles. Lucas favored casting young actors without long-time experience. While reading for Luke Skywalker (then known as "Luke Starkiller"), Hamill found the dialogue to be extremely odd because of its universe-embedded concepts. He chose to simply read it sincerely and was selected instead of William Katt, who was subsequently cast in Carrie.

Lucas initially rejected the idea of using Harrison Ford, as he had previously worked with him on American Graffiti, and instead asked Ford to assist in the auditions by reading lines with the other actors and explaining the concepts and history behind the scenes that they were reading. Lucas was eventually won over by Ford's portrayal and cast him instead of Kurt Russell, Nick Nolte, Sylvester Stallone, Christopher Walken, Billy Dee Williams (who would play Lando Calrissian in the sequels), and Perry King, who wound up playing Solo in the radio plays.

Many young actresses in Hollywood auditioned for the role of Princess Leia, including Cindy Williams. Carrie Fisher was cast under the condition that she lose 10 pounds for the role. Aware that the studio disagreed with his refusal to cast big-name stars, Lucas signed veteran stage and screen actors Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Peter Cushing as Tarkin. Additional casting took place in London, where Mayhew was cast as Chewbacca after he stood up to greet Lucas. Lucas immediately turned to Gary Kurtz, and requested that Mayhew be cast. Daniels auditioned for and was cast as C-3PO; he has said that he wanted the role after he saw a McQuarrie drawing of the character and was struck by the vulnerability in the robot's face.