The universe of Star Wars is as vast and varied as any galactic civilization would be. But for every idea that made it to the big screen, there were dozens of concepts left behind. Including these two.
#1: Yuzzums (Gesundheit!).
These little creatures that blend the adorable fluffiness of a childhood toy with the nightmarish beak and talons of a bird of prey would look right at home in any of the darker Jim Henson movies. Instead, they were originally meant to be second race on Endor for “The Return of the Jedi.” When the Wookiees were cut, Lucasfilm wanted some kind of tall alien creature to replace them. This is what they came up with. Allegedly the Yuzzums proved too costly to develop and were scrapped. However, the prototype Yuzzum ended up as a background character in Jabba”s palace and later got an “upgrade” to a fully realized digital character in the Special Edition musical number. In the now-defunct EU, the Yuzzums appeared as furry blue villains in the “Star Wars: Ewoks” cartoon.
#2: Han Solo, alien smuggler.
Han Solo wasn”t always the dashing human rogue we all know in love. In George Lucas” initial draft of “A New Hope,” Solo was a Ureallian (alternatively known as Yourellians). Dark Horse Comics eventually adapted this version to an AU (Alternate Reality) comic. As a Ureallian, Solo would”ve been slime-coated alien equipped with green skin and gills. His people were known to hunt and trap Wookiees on Yavin. In that draft of the script, Han joined the Luke on the planet of Aquilae instead of Tatooine and never even met Chewbacca until he and Skywalker rescued him from the villains o Yavin 4.
You can read about 5 more unused concepts over at StarWars.com!