"At one point, George Lucas briefly toyed with the notion that the story of Star Wars should be introduced by a family of Wookiees. In this version the film opens with a father Wookiee telling his son about "Uncle Chewbacca." The father then produced a leather-bound journal revealed to be Chewbacca's diary. Evidently Chewbacca left the book for his nephew shortly before his death. After the father Wookiee reads the journal to his son, the film begins and the audience is transported to the opening scene we're now familiar with."
That would have been different.