A Deleted Scene In Star Wars: A New Hope Gave Han Solo A Love Interest
For Starwoids, the scene is immutable gospel: Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) is taken by the old sage Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) into a rundown, sleazy cantina in the city of Mos Eisley on the planet Tatooine. They know they can find an off-the-books pilot-for-hire there, hoping to deliver an important message to a distant world, a message that could conceivably take down the entire evil Empire that rules the galaxy. Scanning the room, Luke and Obi-Wan find Han Solo (Harrison Ford), a ne'er-do-well smuggler who is in debt to the mob, but claims to have the fastest starship in the galaxy.
Luke is out of his element in the cantina. He's young and inexperienced in the realm of vice and crime. Obi-wan famously described the cantina as a hive of scum and villainy. Because Han was in his element in this bar, he was most assuredly a scummy villain. It wouldn't be until later in the film that Han would reveal a streak of heroism. All of these details are not just known to fans of the 1977 film "Star Wars," but are memorized as holy writ. Every single scene, every line of dialogue has been slavishly canonized in the pop canon, burnt into the brains of millions.
"Star Wars" is often considered so untouchably wonderful that suggesting alterations is borderline sacrilege. No one would dare alter "Star Wars" to change the tone or, perhaps, re-edit a scene to make it look like an alien shot his blaster before Han did. What a wild, wicked idea.
Some might also be startled to know that Han, in the cantina scene, was originally intended to have a floozy — perhaps a girlfriend — draped all over him when Luke and Obi-Wan approached.
The edited moll
The missing character was Jenny, played by actress Jenny Cresswell. Cresswell was known at the time for hosting 63 episodes the 1971 game show "Sale of the Century." She also had uncredited roles in "The Sweeney," an episode of "Space: 1999," and in the movie "The Stud" with Joan Collins. Cresswell didn't have any lines.
She wasn't going to have any lines in "Star Wars" either. The edited scene (now easily found online) depicted Han and Jenny cozied up in a dingy corner of the bar, kissing. When Luke and Obi-wan walked over to converse, Han merely dismissed her with a curt "Sweetheart," and Jenny rose to depart. The scene then played itself out as "Star Wars" fans know. Jenny was not cut from the movie altogether, luckily, and can be seen in other establishing shots of the cantina. For "Star Wars" fans, Jenny is the one speaking to a Rodian, a.k.a. Greedo's species.
The reason for Jenny's excision can only be guessed. It's likely director George Lucas didn't want that much sexuality in a film that is essentially a sci-fi fairy tale. Or perhaps he wanted Han Solo to live up to his namesake and be alone in the world, unable to find someone to love him apart from his best friend Chewbacca. Leaving Jenny's scene out would also allow Han Solo to leave Tatooine and engage in a dangerous smuggling mission without audiences worrying about him having abandoned a girlfriend.
Jenny never appeared outside of her brief scene in the first "Star Wars," although she did appear in a 2015 junior novelization of the film called "A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy." But keep an eye out for "Star Wars: Jenny" coming to Disney+ in 2028 ... I kid, I kid.