Star Wars radio dramas

An expanded radio dramatization of the original Star Wars trilogy was produced in 1981, 1983, and 1996. The first two radio series, based on Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, were produced and broadcast by National Public Radio as part of NPR Playhouse. A dramatization of Return of the Jedi was produced by HighBridge Audio; it involved most of the same team and was broadcast by NPR's L.A. Theatre Works.

The radio serials were made with the full co-operation of George Lucas, who for one dollar each sold the rights to KUSC-FM, the public radio affiliate at his alma mater, the University of Southern California. The deal allowed the production team full use of the films' sound effects and musical score. Recordings of all three dramatizations were produced by HighBridge, and Del Rey published the three scripts in book form.

Star Wars

Cast

Many of the actors involved in the movie were unavailable to reprise their roles: Harrison Ford, for instance, was committed to the first Indiana Jones movie. Two of the actors, Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels, returned to reprise their roles as Luke Skywalker and C-3PO respectively.

The supporting cast included James Blendick, Clyde Burton, Bruce French, David Alan Grier, Jerry Hardin, John Harkins, Meshach Taylor, Marc Vahanian, , and Kent Williams.

The Empire Strikes Back

Cast

Billy Dee Williams reprised Lando Calrissian, and John Lithgow played Yoda; at the time Madden was directing Lithgow in the play Beyond Therapy.

The supporting cast again included David Alan Grier and also included Sam McMurray, Steven Markle, Stephen D. Newman, John Pielmeier, Geoffrey Pierson, Gary Tacon, and Jerry Zaks.

Return of the Jedi

Cast

The adaptation used many of the original radio cast, though Joshua Fardon took over as Luke and Arye Gross replaced Billy Dee Williams as Lando. Ed Begley, Jr. was the voice of Boba Fett and Ed Asner, speaking only in grunts, guest-stars as Jabba the Hutt. The only actor who starred in both the feature films and all three radio dramas was Anthony Daniels.

  • Joshua Fardon (Luke Skywalker)
  • Perry King (Han Solo)
  • Ann Sachs (Princess Leia Organa)
  • Anthony Daniels (C-3PO)
  • Bernard Behrens (Obi-Wan Kenobi)
  • Arye Gross (Lando Calrissian)
  • Edward Asner (Jabba The Hutt)
  • Paul Hecht (The Emperor)
  • John Lithgow (Yoda)
  • Brock Peters (Lord Darth Vader)
  • Ed Begley, Jr. (Boba Fett)
  • Samantha Bennett (Arica)

The supporting cast included Rick Hall, Andrew Hawkes, Sherman Howard, , John Kapelos, , Joe Liss, Paul Mercier, Steven Petrarca, Jonathan Penner, Gil Segel, Nia Vardalos and Ron West.

Other broadcasts and releases

  • There are several radio promos, deleted scenes, and additional music tracks available that originated on previous releases of this collection and in the NPR broadcast versions.
  • BBC Radio 1 broadcast the series in the UK, with a key scene in the final episode clumsily cut for timing.
  • All three series have been released on cassette tape and CD.

Canonicity and continuity

The earliest statements about Star Wars canon, made in 1994 in A Guide to the Star Wars Universe and Star Wars Insider 23, gave a privileged status to the radio dramas and novelizations alongside the films, considering them all to be official benchmarks for what was in the Star Wars universe. In 2000, Lucasfilm reorganized the canon and specified that the highest level, "G-canon," was reserved the films only. Since then, anything in the radio dramas beyond the events of the films has been part of the Expanded Universe, which became Star Wars Legends in 2014.

Appearances