Why Star Wars' Crew Was Seriously Worried About Peter Mayhew's Safety As Chewbacca

A great deal of Richard Marquand's 1983 film "Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi" takes place on the forest moon of Endor. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), the Wookiee Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), and the droids C3-PO and R2-D2 (Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker) all travel there to disable a shield generator protecting an under-construction Death Star orbiting the moon. If they succeed, their Rebel compatriots will be able to take down the Death Star. It's a tale as old as time. 

These forest scenes in "Return of the Jedi" were partly filmed at the Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park in northern California, as well as a private forest near Smith River nearby. The park does indeed look like an alien world, as the trees are so impressively massive. Fans of "Star Wars" still go there to this day, hoping to recognize a tree or glade from "Return of the Jedi." 

Back when Marquand was filming, some of his crew became very afraid for Mayhew's safety. Recall that Wookiees are tall, furry aliens. Chewbacca doesn't wear clothes (his bandolier aside), so he looks like a bear, a large humanoid dog, or a sasquatch. Indeed, at an imposing 7'3", Mayhew was proportioned like a sasquatch in his Chewbacca costume. It was fitting for Chewbacca to be wandering the forests of the Pacific Northwest, as that's where most notable Bigfoot sightings have taken place. As far as anyone knows, these forests are the only home to the famously wily cryptid. 

Indeed, according to a 1986 issue of Starlog Magazine, the "Return of the Jedi" crew warned Mayhew to stay close to the film's shooting locations. After all, if he'd wandered off into the woods, he could easily have been shot by Bigfoot hunters.

It seems the more dangerous area — i.e. the one with the Bigfoot hunters — was near Smith River. Mayhew recalled being given very serious instructions to stay close to camp:

"We were shooting on a timber estate where they grow the trees. [...] It was known as Bigfoot Country. So, I got strict instructions not to wander off in costume. Can you imagine it? I'm in full costume, going through the undergrowth, and some guy comes from the other side of where we were filming with a shotgun — BANG! — 'I got Bigfoot!'"

This was wise. A Bigfoot hunter peering through the trees and seeing Chewbacca wandering from a distance would most certainly confuse him for the real deal. Luckily, no one took potshots at Mayhew that day, and he escaped the set of "Return of the Jedi" unscathed. Mayhew continued to appear in "Star Wars" projects for years, donning the Chewbacca costume each time. He played small roles on the "Star Tours" ride at Disneyland and in 2005's "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" before playing Chewbacca one more time in 2015' "Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens." For that film, Mayhew switched out with actors Joonas Suotamo and Ian Whyte, as he was having trouble with his knees and spine. (He'd undergone knee replacement surgery in 2013.) He's credited as a "Chewbacca consultant" in 2017's "Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi," but doesn't appear on-screen. 

Mayhew passed away in 2019 at the age of 74. There wasn't a "Star Wars" fan alive who didn't mourn his passing. He'd spoken extensively about his time playing Chewbacca and even written some children's books about what it's like to be so tall.