Star Wars: How Jim Henson's Muppets Foreshadowed A Creepy Luke & Leia Moment

"Star Wars" fans have had to deal with one specific canonical bugaboo hanging over their favorite franchise for years — Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Princess Leia Organa's (Carrie Fisher) aborted romance arc. Not only do the twosome share romantic tension throughout "Star Wars: A New Hope" and "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back," but Leia kisses Luke right on the mouth during the latter film. All before it's revealed that they're not only siblings but also twins.

Contemporaneous media — such as Hamill's appearance on "The Muppet Show," which aired before the release of "The Empire Strikes Back" in February 1980 — didn't hesitate to portray the characters' connection as romantic. The episode features Miss Piggy (Frank Oz) portraying Princess Leia to Hamill's Luke Skywalker. This version of Leia is openly lovey-dovey toward Luke, and Luke cuddles and kisses Piggy — under threat of severe bodily harm from the purple-loving diva. The moment foreshadows the retroactively unfortunate buss the actual characters share in "The Empire Strikes Back."

To be fair to Jim Henson, Hamill, and everyone else involved in the making of the episode, all available accounts suggest that George Lucas himself didn't decide to make Luke and Leia twins until sometime around the writing of "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi." As HuffPost noted in 2015, in the original drafts for the "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" script Luke did have a twin sister — but it was not Leia. An excised character named Nellith was supposed to fill that role but was removed from the series. Lucas' filmmaking choices aside, another piece of iconic "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" memorabilia pops up during Hamill's "The Muppet Show" appearance as well.

Mark Hamill's "The Muppet Show" hosting appearance doesn't just foreshadow Luke and Leia's "The Empire Strikes Back" kiss — it also previews an important outfit Luke wears during "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back." Audiences had never seen Luke's tan uniform — which he wears during his famous duel with Darth Vader on Bespin — before the episode aired in February 1980. They wouldn't get to see it again until May 21 of the same year, when "The Empire Strikes Back" was released in theatres. That's quite a big spoiler — and it foreshadows an even bigger moment, the revelation that Darth Vader is Luke and Leia's biological father. Since "Star Wars" fanatics hadn't gotten to see their favorite characters since 1978's infamous "Star Wars Holiday Special," getting an eyeful of Luke in a new costume, hanging out with Chewbacca and his droid pals, was quite the unusual thrill.

How did the suit end up on Hamill in the episode? The close friendship between George Lucas and Jim Henson facilitated things, as did both cultural institution's shooting locales. "The Muppet Show" filmed just one town over from the studio where "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" was in its final stages of production, which made sharing props incredibly easy. That resulted in an iconic Muppet moment — and one that helped define the "Star Wars" saga forever, for better or for worse.