Lucasfilm Leaked That Darth Vader Was Luke's Father - And Nobody Believed It
Before Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was released, Lucasfilm purposely leaked that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker’s father, but their framing of the news prevented anyone from believing it. While Darth Vader’s identity is an iconic spoiler now, known even by those who have not seen Star Wars, it was originally a shocking twist. However, if fans had been paying close attention – and known what to believe – it would not have been a surprise at all.
The first Star Wars movie, Star Wars: A New Hope, premiered in 1977. An unexpected hit, most of its marketing had been done through word of mouth and presentations at comic book conventions with art and story pieces. Maintaining excitement for A New Hope’s first sequel, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, provided a new challenge. During a time when there were fewer sequels and no internet to connect an audience, Lucasfilm’s marketing team had to keep viewers interested for three years before Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back premiered in 1980. Due to this, Lucasfilm found creative methods to advertise Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
Related: Luke Skywalker Missed A Big AT-AT Weakness In The Empire Strikes Back
One such method was to publish an article about Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in Starlog Magazine, a popular science fiction magazine at the time. This article featured a list of rumors the marketing team had heard about Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back or created on their own. However, they intentionally mixed some true statements in with the false rumors. This included, “And more than once we've heard that it turns out that Vader is really Luke's father!” (via Starlog Magazine). Since this spoiler was surrounded by incorrect and even contradictory
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