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How do the young people say it? "Original Star Wars before GTA6 wasn't on my 2025 bingo card." I heard a teenager say that on TikTok, and honestly? Same.
For decades, fans have been begging, pleading, and borderline force-choking the air for a chance to see Star Wars the way it was originally shown in 1977. Not the Special Edition. Not the Blu-ray version where Greedo shouts "Maclunkey!" for no reason. We mean the real deal. The one where Han shoots first, the lightsabers are kind of wobbly, and there's not a single CGI dewback in sight.
Well, guess what. It's actually happening.
This June, at the BFI Film on Film Festival in the U.K., the original 1977 edition of Star Wars—yes, the unedited, unfaded, Technicolor British release print—is hitting the big screen once again. It's preserved in the BFI National Archive and will be shown in all its original, gritty glory. No edits. No extra creatures. Just The Star Wars, the way George Lucas first unleashed it before deciding to constantly "improve" it like a kid endlessly tweaking his Lego set.
In addition to the screening, attendees will be treated to behind-the-scenes treasures like annotated scripts, continuity notes, deleted scenes, and on-set Polaroids. Basically, it's the ultimate time machine for die-hard fans.
George Lucas once called his films "works in progress," which is great for artists—but not so great for people who just want to watch the dang movie without Jabba showing up in a scene he was never supposed to be in. And while Disney has remained suspiciously silent on releasing the original cut officially, the BFI is giving fans what they've been dreaming about for decades—not out of nostalgia, but because this version deserves to be preserved as a piece of cultural history.
Will this lead to a wider release? A proper restoration? A surprise Disney+ drop? Probably not. But for one glorious night in June, the Force will be with us—just as it was in 1977.