Star Wars explained real meaning behind ‘a long time ago’ and we all missed it

Even if you are not a Star Wars nerd like the vast majority of the world, you will still probably be familiar with the opening graphics for the iconic movies.

Consisting of a star-filled background, viewers will learn of the history of the franchise thanks to a yellow-font title card which scrolls through and offers key worldbuilding information.

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Most importantly, however, is the very opening line which consists of “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”

However, what some fans may not know is why each of the Star Wars movies begin with this specific line, especially as the story takes place in the future.

That was definitely a question for one user over on Quora who asked, “What did Lucas have in mind with "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away"?”

Other than to maintain a very cool-looking aesthetic, this quote does have a meaning and it centers around the iconic R2-D2 who was originally meant to tell his life story at the age of 2,000 before he would eventually cease to exist.

This was explained by sci-fi novelist Joseph Reinemann.

“Originally the movies were supposed to have a framing device where an enigmatic race of invisible aliens who make the Force work called the Whills were listening to the life's story of a 2,000 year old R2-D2 shortly before he finally succumbed to planned obsolescence.

Back then, the character was still supposed to speak in plain English. And he'd begin his story with “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." right before they cut to the opening credits.”

This storyline was dropped early on in the revision process for Star Wars but Lucas still wanted to maintain a fairytale story-esque opening for the movies.

Not only that but Reinemann also claims that Lucas “continued to write R2 as if he were the narrator of the whole story” for this very reason.

In the 1997 copy of Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays, Lucas had the following to say about the Whills and explained why he eventually changed this concept.

“Originally, I was trying to have the story be told by somebody else; there was somebody watching this whole story and recording it, somebody probably wiser than the mortal players in the actual events.

I eventually dropped this idea, and the concept behind the Whills turned into the Force.

But the Whills became part of this massive amount of notes, quotes, and background information that I used for the scripts; the stories were actually taken from the 'Journal of the Whills'."

It is an interesting tidbit of information to say the least and adds more context to those iconic title cards that a lot of us seemed not to know.