Meet Lightman—The Lost Alien Character That Was Too Ridiculous for Star Wars

In a franchise that features smooching siblings, aliens with names like Droopy McCool, and a music genre called jizz, you'd assume that anything goes. But that wasn't the case with one alien that was pitched for the third Star Wars movie. According to UPROXX, a character named Lightman was apparently too ridiculous, even for the sci-fi series.

Behind-the-scenes footage of the unused Lightman costume recently surfaced on Twitter. The character was reportedly meant to guide C-3PO through the bowels of Jabba's palace, but the electric extraterrestrial was cut early in the production.

Phil Tippet, the special FX legend behind the AT-AT Walkers from Empire Strikes Back (1980), explained the crew's reaction to the design in three curt lines: "Looked just like that. Everyone laughed. Never got shot."

This isn't the first time he's mentioned the lost Star Wars character. Tippet brings up Lightman (describing him as "some creature that was made out of light") in the featurette clip below.

Where Lightman ranks among the most ridiculous alien creatures in the Star Wars universe is debatable. The 1977 movie is especially notorious for background characters that feel out of place in a major blockbuster. If you watch the original version of the Cantina scene from Episode IV, you'll notice a devil, a wolf man, and other aliens whose costumes consist of Halloween masks. Perhaps after the success of the first film, crew members felt more comfortable laughing silly characters off the set.

Lightman may be missing from the Star Wars franchise, but there are plenty of bizarre details that did make it into the final films. Here are some things to look for the next time you watch the original trilogy.