How Carrie Fisher Tried To Change Return Of The Jedi’s Jabba Scene

In defense of director Richard Marquand and screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas, the entire Jabba the Hutt sequence features a lot of moving parts and plotting. So much is going on, in fact, that there are multiple essays devoted to breaking down exactly what Luke’s rescue plan was. Even Leia’s introduction into the film sees her in disguise as a totally different character, the bounty hunter known as Boushh.

After every core member of the Millennium Falcon crew is present at Jabba’s palace (and subsequently captured or, in Leia’s case, enslaved), Han, Luke, and Chewie are brought before the Hutt while Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) lurks nearby in disguise, not wanting to blow his cover yet. Thus, Jabba (and his new droid, C-3PO) does most of the talking, telling the captors about their impending death in the Sarlacc pit. Han (who happens to be temporarily blind) and Leia only have time to exchange the briefest of words, with Leia confirming she’s alive and present.

That brief confirmation is Leia’s only spoken dialogue during the scene. Although Luke and Han have a few short pithy barbs to shoot in Jabba’s direction, it’s more than Leia gets, as she’s continually yanked against Jabba’s side throughout the scene. The intention is to give the audience the sense of certain doom for our heroes, as we see them get captured one by one (which, it turns out, is all part of Luke’s plan, but neither Jabba nor a first-time viewer knows this), and Leia’s subjugation by the Hutt seems to be part of this. It’s likely for these reasons why Leia was kept mostly silent during the scene, despite Fisher’s suggestion.