The truth about the Kessel Run line in Star Wars (sort of)

You've certainly heard about it before: The big mistake in Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (or more simply, Star Wars when it first came out), in the form of a piece of dialogue written by none other than George Lucas himself.

The line, uttered by Han Solo in disbelief, goes a little something like this:

Solo: You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon?

Obi-Wan: Should I have?

Solo: It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.

Just one problem: parsecs are a measurement of distance, not time.

Of course, over the years many answers have been given and the canon has been twisted and molded to make Han Solo's line totally accurate and definitely not a mistake at all.

But according to Craig Miller, who was the Director of Fan Relations for Lucasfilm during the release of both Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, there's more to the story.

Speaking to a packed room at the recently wrapped 2023 Comic-Con International in San Diego, Miller mused about his time helping to bring the movies to the masses — which included a conversation with George Lucas about that infamous line.

Part of Miller's job was to talk with fans and act as an intermediary. And the feedback was clear enough that one day he told George, "We're getting a lot of pushback on the 12 parsecs line."

He explained the discrepancy and said that people were saying George had made a mistake. George's response?

Miller paraphrases: "I didn't make a mistake, Han Solo made a mistake. He's a blowhard. He's a great pilot, but he doesn't know anything about how this works. Chewbacca is the one who knows how it works."

He even pointed Miller to the scene and directed him to watch Obi-Wan's reaction, which could be read with a "this guy has no idea what he's talking about" vibe. Judge for yourself:

Here's the look he's referencing:

Definitely a bit of a "sh'ya right" from Obi-Wan.

As Miller says, "George's official answer to this has changed," but it's still a fun way to read things, even if it might not be the official canon answer.

Miller also mused on several more of his favorite memories while working for Lucasfilm, including controlling R2-D2 for a crossover with Sesame Street, an answering service that became so popular with zero marketing that it broke the 800-number phone system for the entire state of Illinois, and working on an Underoos commercial that frankly has to be seen to be believed.

Say what you will about Han and the Kessel Run, but if you're a "Han shot first" kind of person, then maybe you should think about becoming a "Han's a blowhard" person, too.