About

Chewie, is a Wookiee character in the Star Wars franchise. In the series' narrative chronology, he appears in the films Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

The character's creation as a "gentle, hairy, non-English-speaking co-pilot" was inspired by George Lucas seeing his own Alaskan Malamute dog sitting up on the passenger seat of his car. The dog, Indiana, also inspired the name of the lead character in another series of Lucas films, Indiana Jones.

He is best known as the first mate of Han Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon, in the original Star Wars trilogy. He became Solo's first mate and constant companion when Han, then an Imperial Captain, was ordered to kill him because Chewbacca was a slave for the Empire. Han was decommissioned from the Imperial Navy, and later became a smuggler. Since he saved his life, Chewbacca owed a life debt to Han, meaning that he would serve Han for the rest of his life. According to Entertainment Weekly he is one of the "greatest sidekicks" in film history.

In all four appearances, he was portrayed by Peter Mayhew, who was chosen for his height — 7'3" at the time of filming. Mayhew wore numerous identical bulky fursuits for the role. During the filming of the original three films and the holiday special, the suits were made of a combination of yak hair and mohair. For production of Revenge of the Sith, the suit was made of more modern and comfortable materials, though this additional comfort was mostly unnecessary because Mayhew's filming only lasted for a day. Although the only part of Mayhew that could be seen in the suit were his blue eyes, fans easily recognized him even in costume by his distinctive gestures, and his coworkers said they were able to tell when a stand-in was taking his place.

Chewbacca's voice was created by the original films' sound designer, Ben Burtt, from a mix of recordings of walruses, camels, bears, lions, tigers and badgers in Burtt's personal library. The individual recordings were mixed at different ratios for Chewbacca's different utterances. One of the most prominent elements in the voice was a black bear from Happy Hollow Zoo in San Jose, California named Tarik. Chewbacca is usually portrayed with an energized bowcaster, as with all Wookiees. Wookies are sometimes called "walking carpets" as an insult. Chewbacca is also sometimes shown with homing rockets, such as in Star Wars: Battlefront II.