Most fans who grew up with the original cut of the 1977 "Star Wars" contend that Han Solo was the kind of space pirate who didn't wait to see if Greedo was in a negotiating mood before shooting him under the table in the Mos Eisley Cantina. Younger fans think Greedo would have made the first move, shooting before Han could defend himself.

"Han Solo was going to marry Leia, and you look back and say, 'Should he be a cold-blooded killer?' " Lucas told The Washington Post. "Because I was thinking mythologically -- should he be a cowboy, should he be John Wayne? And I said, 'Yeah, he should be John Wayne.' And when you're John Wayne, you don't shoot people [first] -- you let them have the first shot. It's a mythological reality that we hope our society pays attention to."