The story of how Star Wars came to be is a vague one. George Lucas changes his statements about the origins almost constantly. He had created a rich universe of characters and locales, which he wasn't sure would make it to film after the first instalment. So what did this all look like back in the day? Peter Mayhew, the actor who played Chewbacca, has been answering this question by tweeting pages from the original 1976 script.

Some startling facts have arisen from this, many that show the big differences between the original cut and the revisited original trilogy. One key point that has become a talking point amongst fans is when Jabba's thug Greedo meets Han Solo at the Mos Eisley Cantina. In the new version, Greedo shoots first, but back in '76 he didn't shoot at all.

Mayhew's draft is called The Adventures of Luke Starkiller as taken from the Journal of the Whills, one of Star Wars’ earlier title. Of course, this was changed to Skywalker when the film was eventually made, but The Force Awakens makes a not-so-subtle homage to this with The First Order's base.

So why is Mayhew doing this? He says he'll continue tweeting pages of the script leading up to a mystery announcement. Many are theorising this will be Mayhew's retirement, but we shall see.