Star Wars: A New Hope Trivia
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98 free Star Wars: a New Hope trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This Star Wars: A New Hope trivia quiz is devoted entirely to the 1977 original, later retitled Episode IV. It covers the making of the film (George Lucas's rejected pitches, the Journal of the Whills, Luke Starkiller, the Tunisian and Guatemalan locations, the Dykstraflex camera), the casting (who turned down Han Solo and Obi-Wan, how Peter Mayhew and Kenny Baker were chosen, why David Prowse lost Vader's voice), the design of the Millennium Falcon, the Death Star and the droids, and the release: 32 theatres on May 25, 1977, six Academy Awards, the Kenner empty-box Christmas and the 1997 Special Edition that made Greedo shoot first. It is written for fans who want more than 'who played Luke', with difficulty running from easy to expert, and it works as a movie-night round or a solo test. It stays inside Episode IV, so no prequel or sequel questions. Every answer was checked against a reference page before publishing, so the dates, credits and production details hold up.
30 of 98 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On what date did Star Wars open in US cinemas?
May 25, 1977
Star Wars opened on Wednesday, May 25, 1977, in just 32 theatres, timed for the Memorial Day weekend; lines around the block soon pushed Fox into a much wider release.
Q 02In which year's reissue did the film gain the subtitle Episode IV – A New Hope?
1981
The April 1981 reissue was the first to carry 'Episode IV A New Hope' in the opening crawl, added after The Empire Strikes Back had opened as Episode V in 1980.
Q 03Which 1958 Akira Kurosawa film lent narrative beats to Lucas's early treatment?
The Hidden Fortress
The Hidden Fortress (1958) follows two bickering peasants escorting a princess and a general through enemy territory, a structure Lucas echoed with C-3PO and R2-D2, Leia and Obi-Wan.
Q 04What was the title of Lucas's unfinished two-page synopsis from early 1973?
Journal of the Whills
Journal of the Whills was Lucas's two-page January 1973 synopsis about CJ Thorpe, apprentice to the 'Jedi-Bendu' Mace Windy; the Whills resurfaced in Rogue One's Guardians of the Whills.
Q 05What was Luke's surname in the drafts before it became Skywalker during production?
Starkiller
Luke was Luke Starkiller through the fourth draft of January 1976 and into the first weeks of filming; Lucas switched to Skywalker during shooting, feeling Starkiller sounded too murderous.
Q 06Which studio executive greenlit Star Wars at Fox after United Artists and Universal passed?
Alan Ladd Jr.
Alan Ladd Jr., Fox's head of production, backed Star Wars after a screening of American Graffiti; Lucas later said Ladd 'invested in me, he did not invest in the movie'.
Q 07Which actor turned down the part of Han Solo because he did not understand the script?
Al Pacino
Al Pacino, hot from The Godfather, later said Star Wars 'was mine for the taking' but he turned it down because he could not understand the script; Harrison Ford got the part.
Q 08Which actor was considered for Obi-Wan but was instead cast as the villainous Tarkin?
Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing, the Hammer horror star, was considered for Obi-Wan before being cast as Grand Moff Tarkin; his boots hurt, so he played many scenes in carpet slippers, framed from the waist up.
Q 09What did Luke want to pick up at Tosche Station?
Power converters
Luke whines that he was going to Tosche Station to pick up some power converters; Uncle Owen tells him he can waste time with his friends when his chores are done.
Q 10Anthony Daniels wanted the C-3PO role after seeing whose concept painting of the droid?
Ralph McQuarrie's
Ralph McQuarrie's painting of a gleaming C-3PO, modelled on the Maschinenmensch of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, won Daniels over; he later kept the voice role after Lucas auditioned about thirty other actors.
Q 11What job was Peter Mayhew doing when he was cast as Chewbacca?
Hospital orderly
Peter Mayhew was a hospital orderly at King's College Hospital in London when Lucas, who had seen his photo as the Minotaur in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, met him and cast him.
Q 12Why did Lucas replace the voice of the actor inside the Vader suit with James Earl Jones?
He had a West Country English accent
Jones went uncredited as Vader in the films until 1983, though he was credited in the 1978 Holiday Special.
Q 13How did sound designer Ben Burtt create R2-D2's beeps and squeaks?
Q 21Which crime lord do Han and Chewbacca leave to pay off before the Death Star attack?
Jabba the Hutt
Han owes Jabba the Hutt for a smuggled cargo he dumped when boarded by the Empire; in 1977 Jabba appeared only in dialogue, since the scene with a human Jabba (Declan Mulholland) was cut.
Q 22Which friend of Luke's leaves Tatooine for the Rebellion in scenes cut from the 1977 release?
Biggs Darklighter
Biggs Darklighter, Luke's Anchorhead friend, tells him he is joining the Rebellion in scenes cut before release; he survives in the film as Red Three, dying in the trench run.
Q 23Which filmmaker helped trim the opening crawl from six paragraphs to four sentences?
Brian De Palma
By imitating baby noises on a synthesizer
The droid's name reportedly came from editor Walter Murch asking for 'Reel 2, Dialog 2' during work on American Graffiti.
Q 14Luke's Tatooine home was filmed at an underground hotel in which Tunisian town?
Matmata
The Lars homestead interiors were shot at the Hotel Sidi Driss, a troglodyte pit-hotel in Matmata; principal photography had begun in March 1976 at the Chott el Djerid salt flat.
Q 15The rebel base on Yavin 4 was filmed at which Mayan site?
Tikal
Tikal's temples rising from the Guatemalan jungle stood in for the rebel base on Yavin 4; the crew reportedly chose it after seeing a poster of the ruins in a travel agency.
Q 16The motion-control camera system developed for the film's effects became known as what?
The Dykstraflex
The Dykstraflex, built by John Dykstra's team at Industrial Light & Magic, moved the camera in repeatable computer-controlled passes around static models, which made the dogfights possible; it earned an Academy Scientific and Engineering Award.
Q 17The Millennium Falcon was redesigned because its first version resembled ships from which TV series?
Space: 1999
The first Falcon looked too much like the Eagle transporters of Space: 1999, so Joe Johnston had four weeks to redo it, told only to 'think of a flying saucer'; the old model became Leia's Tantive IV.
Q 18The Falcon's final shape is often said to be based on what, with the cockpit as an olive on the side?
A hamburger
Lucas described the redesigned Falcon as a hamburger with the cockpit as an olive on the side; in the story it is a YT-1300 Corellian light freighter that Han won from Lando Calrissian.
Q 19Lucas first assigned the Death Star's design to which artist?
Colin Cantwell
Colin Cantwell built the first Death Star model in 1975 along with prototypes of the X-wing, TIE fighter and Star Destroyer; his designs were later refined by the model shop at Industrial Light & Magic.
Q 20Where do Luke and Obi-Wan hire Han Solo and Chewbacca?
Mos Eisley
Obi-Wan and Luke find Han in the Mos Eisley cantina, the 'wretched hive of scum and villainy' on Tatooine; the scene's alien crowd was expanded with extra shots filmed in Los Angeles in early 1977.
Brian De Palma, after mocking the rough cut's crawl, sat down with critic Jay Cocks and rewrote it into the terse four sentences that open the film; Spielberg, by contrast, loved the rough cut.
Q 24In the unfinished cut shown to Lucas's friends, what stood in for the space battles?
World War II dogfight footage
Lucas cut in black-and-white World War II dogfight footage where the X-wing and TIE fighter shots would go; most effects were unfinished, and Vader spoke with Prowse's voice.
Q 25Halfway through production the director replaced his editor with Paul Hirsch, Richard Chew and whom?
Marcia Lucas
Marcia Lucas, the director's wife, joined Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew after John Jympson's first cut disappointed Lucas; the three shared the Academy Award for Best Film Editing.
Q 26John Williams recorded the score over 12 days in March 1977 with which ensemble?
The London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra recorded the score at Anvil Studios in Denham over twelve days in March 1977; the double album reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
Q 27Whose disco version of the Star Wars theme hit number one in the US in October 1977?
Meco
Meco's disco medley 'Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band' topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in October 1977, outdoing John Williams's own main title, which peaked at No. 10.
Q 28How many competitive Academy Awards did Star Wars win?
Six
Star Wars won six competitive Oscars, for art direction, costume design, film editing, original score, sound and visual effects, and Ben Burtt took a Special Achievement Award; it lost Best Picture to Annie Hall.
Q 29Which cast member earned the film's only acting Oscar nomination?
Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, the film's only acting nomination; George Lucas was nominated for both directing and original screenplay, and Gary Kurtz as producer for Best Picture.
Q 30Which actor played Luke's Uncle Owen?
Phil Brown
Phil Brown, an American actor who had moved to England after being blacklisted in Hollywood, played Owen Lars; Shelagh Fraser played Aunt Beru.