Connie's Warwick Davis Fanpage and Leprechaun Center

Return of the Ewok

Click here to go straight to the Star Wars Insider Return of the Ewok article.

This unreleased short film has had numerous showings at conventions but has never been released commercially. It has an interesting history.

The 1983 book The Making of Return of the Jedi (edited by John Phillip Peecher; published by Ballantine/Del Rey) had this tantalizing bit of information in its first chapter, in a section on First Assistant Director David Tomblin:

As if he weren't busy enough, Tomblin began a project in his spare moments and on the nights when he couldn't sleep. It is a 30-minute documentary woven around little Warwick Davis, who plays the Ewok Warrick. (Later, the character was rechristened into Wicket W. Warrick.) It is about Warwick Davis, age twelve, height 2 feet 10 inches, going out into the grown-up world and living out several boyish fantasies before being cast as an Ewok in Jedi.

"It all began when Warwick walked in the door for his audition and smiled," Tomblin says ruefully. "That smile cost me all my lunch hours and most of my days off."

A 1985 Starlog article also made brief mention of the film:

Off-set, Davis also worked on another movie project. David Tomblin, Jedi's second unit and assistant director (STARLOG #86) conceived the idea. "He thought I was a really good Ewok and everything," enthuses Davis, "and he had written the script. He kept thinking of it in the night, he used to jump up and write little bits. Eventually, he ended up with this whole story, and we made this little film." Under Tomblin's direction, a humorous half-hour semi-documentary, semi-fictional film was made, charting Davis' initiation into the world of Ewoks and blockbuster moviemaking. "I think they used bits of it for promoting Return of the Jedi, but nothing else," says Davis. However, a copy of Tomblin's "little film," transferred onto videocassette, is preserved next to the Davis family TV set. It is a very special, professionally made "home movie" of one boy's real Star Wars adventure.

For many long years, that was all the world would know about Return of the Ewok. Then, in 1996, Star Wars Insider printed an interview with Warwick Davis and teased us a little more:

But Davis revealed - for the first time, he said - the most exciting extracurricular activity at Elstree. "While we were shooting the film," he proclaimed, "the assistant director, David Tomblin, wrote a film called Return of the Ewok, which was basically me, as Warwick, getting the part of Wicket. It's about 25 minutes long, but it was never properly completed.

"Harrison was in it, and Anthony Daniels, and [co-producer] Robert Watts. There was a little bit with Frank Oz where I visit Yoda and get my intergalactic passport. There's a great bit where I'm at the cinema in London showing Empire, the scene with Luke fighting Vader, and Luke back-flips out of the theater and I say "Go on, Luke, you can do it' and he back-flips back in. It's a unique piece of history, since it's got Elstree Studios" - much of which was recently razed - "standing as it was.

"As far as I know," he continued, tantalizingly, "I've got the only copy, a VHS. It's a treasured memory." Suddenly struck with an idea and vowing to "make some calls," Davis declared, "I might see if I can bring it on my convention appearances, for the fans."

In May 1999, it finally happened. The film received its first public showing at the Star Wars Celebration in Denver, and received an enthusiastic response. In November 1999, Star Wars Insider published an article about the film with a full description and sixty photos.

In April 2005 a condensed version (under four minutes) became available on the official Star Wars website. It requires a paid subscription to the Hyperspace club, and the cost of membership depends on where you live. It's a great little film, though! Many thanks to Chepo Pena for telling me about this!