The story goes that Leigh Brackett was hired by George Lucas to brainstorm a “Star Wars” sequel when the first proved to be a big hit. Brackett was a prolific and Hugo-nominated sci-fi author who had previously penned stories like “The Shadow Over Mars” and “The Long Tomorrow.” She was also an experienced screenwriter, having penned notable “dude” classics like “The Big Sleep,” “Rio Bravo,” and “The Long Goodbye.” Brackett knew how a “Star Wars” sequel ought to look … and her version looked very little like the version we eventually got.
In Brackett’s script, the relationship between Luke, Leia, and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) was meant to be more of a conventional love triangle. Leia, being such a resolute character, would likely want very little to do with either Luke or Han. In the final “Empire” draft, Leia admitted she was in love with Han, a fact he seemingly already knew.
Brackett’s script also featured the familiar scenes of Luke flying off to a swamp planet to train with a hermetic Jedi sage, the character audiences would eventually call Yoda (Frank Oz). In Brackett’s version, however, Yoda was initially called Bunden “Buffy” Debannen. That name was eventually changed to Minch Yoda before being shortened to just Yoda.
In the final draft, Luke leaves his Jedi training with Yoda to go rescue his friends from Darth Vader. Yoda regrets this, as Luke is not yet ready to be a Jedi Knight. Yoda holds out hope, however, saying “There is another.” Brackett’s script also had that line, but it was more explicit as to who the “another” was. It seems Luke still had a long-lost sister named Nellith. Luke was to learn about this mysterious Nellith from the ghost of his (non-Darth-Vader) father.