Whilst watching The Empire Strikes Back recently, it occurred to me how few fathers are actually featured in the saga. Given George Lucas’s apparently difficult relationship with his own father, could it be that George is working through these issues through his art? It’s not unknown for an artist to use their work as therapy, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find that this is more than mere coincidence.

Of course, there is a surfeit of father figures in the films – Luke has both Uncle Owen and Obi-wan to look up to and Qui-gon serves as a paternal substitute for both Obi-wan and Anakin – and they all get killed off. The only real fathers that I can think of are pretty lousy. You’ve got Anakin, obviously, a man with many flaws and has to be saved from himself by his son. And then you’ve got Owen’s father who, let’s face it, is pretty hopeless, being unable to save his wife and leaving her to certain death while his injuries heal.

Given the trend for recurring motifs in the films, it remains to be seen if the writers of the new film will do anything with the archetype of the failed father or if we actually see a successful father appear in the story. Will Han Solo be the one to buck the trend (if, indeed, the new film follows the premise of the EU and gives him children)?