Every body knows Star Wars, right? Is there any body on the planet that hasn’t at least heard of it by now? Well they’re making the (probably) final three movies for the franchise, so I thought it would be a good time to revisit the original 3 movies along with the prequels, and I’ll try to find some things that even the biggest fans might have missed.

10 Things you didn’t know about Star Wars

1. Yoda was almost a monkey

Yes, George Lucas had the idea that Yoda should be played by a cute monkey with a cane. Thankfully that never happened.

2. Yoda is of unknown species

We never know what species Yoda actually is, but we do know that in some of the movies he has 4 toes and in others he has only 3, so I guess it’s a species that can grow toes.

3. Ewoks speak Tibetan

The Ewoks are actually never mentioned by name in the movies themselves, we just see their name in the credits, but we do know that the language that they use is a mix of Tibetan and Nepalese.

4. Darth Vader is banned from all official Star Wars events

We’re talking about David Prowse, the guy who wore the actual Darth Vader suit and mask, not James Earl Jones who did Vader’s voice, or any of the fan Vaders that might show up. George Lucas apparently thinks David Prowse is annoying and he therefore banned him from any official Star Wars event.

5. You can use Star Wars money as real money

There’s a tiny island called Niue, in the South Pacific ocean, that actually accepts Star Wars collectible coins as real legal money.

6. Han Solo was almost played by Burt Reynolds

Before Harrison Ford got the part, the top choices were Burt Reynolds, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson and Christopher Walken. Han Solo was also supposed to die at the end of Return of the Jedi, but Lucas thought that killing off main characters would hurt the sales of merchandise, so he changed it into a big Ewok party. Take that Game of Thrones!

7. George Lucas had to leave the Directors Guild

Lucas actually resigned from the Directors Guild, and paid a fine, just so that he could make the opening credits in a non-approved way.

8. Tupac Shakur almost auditioned for Star Wars

Before Tupac got killed, he wasn’t just a great rapper, he was also a pretty good actor. He wanted to audition for the role of Mace Windu but died before he could.

9. Attack of the Clones had N’Sync in it

Yup, you read that right. N’Sync were supposed to make a cameo in Attack of the Clones, but thankfully a rumor about it got out, and fans got upset, so George Lucas cut them out for the final cut.

10. Ewan McGregor can’t keep his mouth shut

During the filming Ewan McGregor got so carried away with his acting that he kept making the light saber noises during the fights. They had to remove the noises later and insert the real ones.