20 Little Known Star Wars Facts
16. Luke’s Scar
Perhaps the most noticeable change was a scar that stretched from Luke’s nose all the way down past his lips.
In reality, actor Mark Hamill acquired this scar when he was involved in a bad car accident in the late 1970s.
Timelines vary depending on the source, but most historians agree that Hamill’s car crash happened as he was wrapping up filming the first “Star Wars” film.
The actor was speeding on a freeway off-ramp and lost control of his car. He suffered a few major injuries, including a fractured cheek and nose. In fact, part of his nose had to be rebuilt with cartilage doctors took from his ear.
Despite his surgeons’ best efforts, it was clear that Hamill would never look quite the same, so George Lucas decided to help make the actor’s injuries fit into the franchise’s story.
The scene in “The Empire Strikes Back” where Luke gets beaten up by a Wampa on the planet Hoth was already written into the sequel’s script, but Lucas decided that it would make the most sense if the hero’s wound matched his real-life scar. The scene in the film shows Luke bleeding from this injury, and he continues to sport the scar for the remainder of the trilogy.
