On the day of Disney+’s release, the focus of Star Wars’ fans everywhere should have been on the first Star Wars live-action TV series, The Mandalorian.
But instead, an age-old debate has been resurrected, for a scene featuring Han Solo and Greedo the bounty hunter, with the burning question at heart being: Did Han Solo shoot first?
Several re-edited version of the famous scene has been used over the years which suggest otherwise, despite the original 1977 version of A New Hope clearly showing Han gunning down Greedo first, before the latter could raise his gun towards him.
The scene was infamously changed by George Lucas in the 1997 special edition where Greedo was given a chance to fire a bad shot before being gunned down by Han once again.
Lucas said in a 2012 interview with The Hollywood Reporter that the reason for doing so was to keep Solo’s heroism intact.
“The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upsets people because they wanted Solo to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t.”
This time, the scene is tweaked once again and has been added into the Disney+ version of A New Hope which shows neither of the pair shooting first. Instead, the movie now has them both shooting at the same time. Greedo even shouts what seems to be “Maclunkey” before firing his shot and getting shot.
The word “Maclunkey” has been spreading quickly over the internet, with some fans even believing that they have worked out the meaning of what initially sounded like gibberish alien speak. Some believe it to be the name of Greedo’s deceased partner who was killed by Han while others postulate it to mean “This’ll be the end of you.”
While others just seem to enjoy the word for how quirky it sounds.
It seems, for now, the answer to the question on who shot first seems to be ‘none’ but who knows, a new version just might appear again a decade or so down the road.
Unfortunately for Greedo, regardless of who shot first, the scene will always end with him dead.
Germaine is a fun-sized introvert who loves nothing better than sleeping in on rainy days. She can be found reading fanfiction and manga while still waiting for her Hogwarts acceptance letter. It’ll come eventually.
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