The Return of the Jedi cast is led by Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford as Han Solo and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, with Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO and Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca. Return of the Jedi (1983) was directed by Richard Marquand and opened in the US on May 25, 1983, and TMDB credits 177 roles, from the leads down to dozens of Ewok performers. Three credited actors share Darth Vader: David Prowse plays him in the suit, James Earl Jones provides the voice and Sebastian Shaw plays Anakin Skywalker. Ian McDiarmid plays The Emperor, Frank Oz voices Yoda and Alec Guinness plays Ben 'Obi-Wan' Kenobi. So, what sets this ensemble apart? Most of the principal cast return from the earlier films, while the Endor scenes brought in a large new company, led by Warwick Davis as Wicket, a part he took over after Kenny Baker fell ill.
| # | Actor | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Hamill | Luke Skywalker |
| 2 | Harrison Ford | Han Solo |
| 3 | Carrie Fisher | Princess Leia |
| 4 | Billy Dee Williams | Lando Calrissian |
| 5 | Anthony Daniels | C-3PO |
| 6 | Peter Mayhew | Chewbacca |
| 7 | Sebastian Shaw | Anakin Skywalker |
| 8 | Ian McDiarmid | The Emperor |
| 9 | Frank Oz | Yoda (voice) |
| 10 | James Earl Jones | Darth Vader (voice) |
| 11 | David Prowse | Darth Vader |
| 12 | Alec Guinness | Ben 'Obi-Wan' Kenobi |
| 13 | Kenny Baker | R2-D2 / Paploo |
| 14 | Michael Pennington | Moff Jerjerrod |
| 15 | Kenneth Colley | Admiral Piett |
| 16 | Michael Carter | Bib Fortuna |
| 17 | Denis Lawson | Wedge |
| 18 | Tim Rose | Admiral Ackbar |
| 19 | Dermot Crowley | General Madine |
| 20 | Caroline Blakiston | Mon Mothma |
| 21 | Warwick Davis | Wicket |
| 22 | Jeremy Bulloch | Boba Fett |
| 23 | Femi Taylor | Oola |
| 24 | Annie Arbogast | Sy Snootles |
Billing order from the film's credits (TMDB). Actors with a Cinvibe page and characters with a character page are linked.
Also in the cast: Claire Davenport (Fat Dancer), Jack Purvis (Teebo), Mike Edmonds (Logray), Jane Busby (Chief Chirpa), Malcolm Dixon (Ewok Warrior), Mike Cottrell (Ewok Warrior), Nicki Reade (Nicki), Adam Bareham (Jhoff, a traffic control officer on the Executor), Jonathan Oliver (Stardestroyer Controller #2), Pip Miller (Stardestroyer Captain #1), Tom Mannion (Stardestroyer Captain #2), Margo Apostolos (Ewok Tokkat), Ray Armstrong (Ewok), Eileen Baker (Ewok), Michael Henbury Ballan (Ewok), Bobby Bell (Ewok), Patty Bell (Ewok), Alan Bennett (Ewok), Sarah Bennett (Ewok), Pamela Betts (Ewok), Danny Blackner (Ewok), Linda Bowley (Ewok), Peter Burroughs (Ewok), Debbie Lee Carrington (Romba an Ewok), Maureen Charlton (Ewok), Willie Coppen (Ewok), Sadie Corre (Ewok), Tony Cox (Ewok Wicket's younger brother Widdle), John Cumming (Ewok), Jean D'Agostino (Ewok), Luis De Jesus (Ewok), Debbie Dixon (Ewok Wijunkee), Margarita Fernández (Ewok), Phil Fondacaro (Ewok), Sal Fondacaro (Ewok), Tony Friel (Ewok), Daniel Frishman (Ewok), John Ghavan (Ewok), Michael Gilden (Ewok), Paul Grant (Ewok), Lydia Green (Ewok), Lars Green (Ewok), Pam Grizz (Ewok), Andrew Herd (Ewok), J.J. Jackson (Ewok), Richard Jones (Ewok), Trevor Jones (Ewok), Glynn Jones (Ewok), Karen Lay (Ewok), John Lummiss (Ewok), Nancy MacLean (Ewok), Peter Mandell (Ewok), Carole Morris (Ewok), Stacie Nichols (Ewok), Chris Nunn (Ewok), Barbara O'Laughlin (Ewok), Brian Orenstein (Ewok), Harrell Parker Jr. (Ewok), John Pedrick (Ewok), April Perkins (Ewok), Ronnie Phillips (Ewok), Katie Purvis (Ewok), Carol Read (Ewok), Nicholas Read (Ewok), Diana Reynolds (Ewok), Daniel Rodgers (Ewok Graak), Chris Romano (Ewok), Dean Shackelford (Ewok), Kiran Shah (Ewok), Felix Silla (Ewok), Linda Spriggs (Ewok), Gerald Staddon (Ewok), Josephine Staddon (Ewok), Kevin Thompson (Ewok), Kendra Wall (Ewok), Brian Wheeler (Ewok), Butch Wilhelm (Ewok), Mark Dodson (Salacious B. Crumb), Simon J. Williamson (Max Rebo), Richard Bonehill (Nien Nunb) and 73 more credited roles.
Mark Hamill plays Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi (1983), where Luke joins the plan to free Han Solo from Jabba's palace. StarWars.com has published photos from the Hamill family collection showing him, often in costume as Luke, with his wife Marilou and son Nathan during filming, on sets including the Emperor's throne room and Yoda's hut, with further photos of Nathan in the creature shop.
Harrison Ford returns as Han Solo in Return of the Jedi, and the character opens the film frozen in carbonite on a wall of Jabba the Hutt's palace after Boba Fett delivered him there. The StarWars.com databank records that Leia, disguised as the bounty hunter Boushh, frees him, and that Han then suffers hibernation sickness, including temporary blindness.
Carrie Fisher plays Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi, where Leia enters Jabba's palace in disguise and ends up as his prisoner. Her look for the film was worked out in detail: StarWars.com reports that illustrator Marilee Heyer drew Fisher's complex hairstyles, and four of those drawings were printed in The Art of Return of the Jedi.
Billy Dee Williams returns as Lando Calrissian in Return of the Jedi, the role he first played in The Empire Strikes Back. The StarWars.com databank describes Lando here as a rebel general who goes undercover at Jabba's palace, and Han later lends him the Millennium Falcon for the attack on the second Death Star.
Anthony Daniels plays C-3PO in Return of the Jedi, where the droid goes with R2-D2 into Jabba's palace as part of the rescue plan. StarWars.com notes that Daniels returned as C-3PO for The Empire Strikes Back and for the prequels, kept coming back over the next four decades, and has spent 43 years playing the droid.
Peter Mayhew plays Chewbacca in Return of the Jedi, where the character is captured with Luke and Han and sentenced to the desert pit monster. Lucasfilm's 2019 tribute notes that Mayhew first played Chewbacca in Star Wars: A New Hope and calls his performance integral to the character since 1976. He died at his home in North Texas on April 30, 2019, aged 74.
Sebastian Shaw plays Anakin Skywalker in Return of the Jedi and is billed seventh in the TMDB credits, directly ahead of Ian McDiarmid as The Emperor. The film splits Darth Vader between three credited performers: Shaw as Anakin Skywalker, David Prowse as Darth Vader in the suit and James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader.
Ian McDiarmid plays The Emperor in Return of the Jedi. At a 2013 Star Wars Celebration panel reported by StarWars.com, he said he met George Lucas and Richard Marquand, then his agent called to tell him he had the part of the Emperor of the universe. He was in his late 30s at the time, playing a character of 120.
Frank Oz is credited as the voice of Yoda in Return of the Jedi. StarWars.com notes that Oz also operated the original Yoda puppet in The Empire Strikes Back and in Return of the Jedi, and Mark Hamill's family photos from the shoot include one of Frank Oz with Yoda, Mark Hamill and his son Nathan.
James Earl Jones voices Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi, while David Prowse plays the character on screen. StarWars.com records that Jones was cast to voice Vader in early 1977 for A New Hope, which was his first work for Lucasfilm, and that he voiced the character for more than four decades. He died in 2024, aged 93.
David Prowse plays Darth Vader in the armor and helmet in Return of the Jedi, the physical role he first played in 1977. StarWars.com's 2020 tribute recalls that he auditioned for both Chewbacca and Vader and picked Vader, saying in a 2008 NPR interview that you always remember the baddie. He died in November 2020, aged 85.
Alec Guinness plays Ben 'Obi-Wan' Kenobi in Return of the Jedi (1983) and is billed twelfth in the TMDB credits. His name follows David Prowse as Darth Vader and comes directly ahead of Kenny Baker as R2-D2 / Paploo, inside a cast list that runs to 177 credited roles.
The Return of the Jedi cast was built around the returning leads, with new principal roles for The Emperor and for Anakin Skywalker, plus a large company of Ewok performers. George Lucas paid for Return of the Jedi himself and chose not to direct it. Richard Marquand got the job after a Directors Guild dispute blocked Steven Spielberg, and Marquand took part in casting. Ian McDiarmid told a 2013 Star Wars Celebration panel that he met both Lucas and Marquand before his agent called with the offer, and that the Emperor's voice only arrived when he looked in the mirror after four hours of makeup tests.
Filming ran from January 11 to May 20, 1982, and the first 78 days were shot at Elstree Studios on all nine sound stages. The forest of Endor needed dozens of performers, and TMDB lists many of them by name as Ewoks. One late change shaped those scenes, because Warwick Davis replaced Kenny Baker as Wicket after Baker fell ill. TMDB credits 177 roles, down to Imperial officers such as Jhoff, a traffic control officer on the Executor.
Most of the principal cast from the earlier Star Wars movies return in Return of the Jedi, and the main new parts go to Ian McDiarmid as The Emperor and Sebastian Shaw as Anakin Skywalker. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse and James Earl Jones all return to characters introduced in 1977. Billy Dee Williams and Frank Oz come back from The Empire Strikes Back, and Alec Guinness is billed as Ben 'Obi-Wan' Kenobi. Kenny Baker is credited as R2-D2 and also as Paploo.
Both new principal parts sit close to Darth Vader, and the supporting credits cover both sides of the war. Michael Pennington plays Moff Jerjerrod and Kenneth Colley plays Admiral Piett, while Caroline Blakiston plays Mon Mothma, Tim Rose plays Admiral Ackbar and Dermot Crowley plays General Madine. Warwick Davis leads the Ewoks as Wicket, alongside Jack Purvis as Teebo and Mike Edmonds as Logray.
| Director | Richard Marquand |
|---|---|
| Writers | George Lucas, Lawrence Kasdan |
| Producers | Howard G. Kazanjian |
| Music | John Williams |
| Cinematography | Alec Mills |
Ian McDiarmid played The Emperor in Return of the Jedi (1983). At a 2013 Star Wars Celebration panel reported by StarWars.com, he said he met George Lucas and Richard Marquand before his agent called to say he had the part. He later said he was the right age to carry the character on into the prequel films.
David Prowse played Darth Vader in the suit in Return of the Jedi, while James Earl Jones is credited as the voice of Darth Vader and Sebastian Shaw is credited as Anakin Skywalker. That makes three credited actors who share the character. StarWars.com tributes confirm that Prowse and Jones had played their halves of the character since the 1977 film.
Warwick Davis played Wicket the Ewok in Return of the Jedi. He took the part after Kenny Baker, the original choice, fell ill, and Baker remains in the film, credited as R2-D2 / Paploo. StarWars.com notes that Davis played Wicket as a boy and also in two made-for-TV spin-off movies.
Ian McDiarmid was in his late 30s when he played The Emperor in Return of the Jedi, by his own account. At the 2013 Star Wars Celebration panel he said he was playing a character of 120. He also said the Emperor's voice only arrived when he looked in the mirror after four hours of makeup tests.
Yes, the principal cast returned for Return of the Jedi. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, James Earl Jones and Frank Oz all play their established roles, Alec Guinness is billed as Ben 'Obi-Wan' Kenobi and Kenny Baker is credited as R2-D2 / Paploo. The new principal roles went to Ian McDiarmid and Sebastian Shaw.
Yes, Alec Guinness is in Return of the Jedi, billed twelfth as Ben 'Obi-Wan' Kenobi. The TMDB credits place him directly after David Prowse as Darth Vader and directly ahead of Kenny Baker as R2-D2 / Paploo, among the 177 credited roles for the 1983 film directed by Richard Marquand.
The main villains in Return of the Jedi are The Emperor, played by Ian McDiarmid, and Darth Vader, played by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones. The first act centers on the crime lord Jabba the Hutt, who keeps Han Solo frozen in carbonite in his palace, while the Empire secretly builds a second Death Star.
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