Is Star Wars Really Trying to Make Us Forget That Iconic Kiss?
While it is hard to imagine today, the original Star Wars movie, now better known as Episode IV: A New Hope, was quite a gamble.
At the time of its (troubled) filming, no one on the set could be reasonably sure whether any more episodes are ever going to see the light of day.
Indeed, while it ends on a clear sequel hook, the evidence suggests that only after its sudden success George Lucas really started formulating a grand six-movie plan beyond the vaguest of ideas – starting with the fact that "Episode IV" and "A New Hope" subtitles only were added to its opening crawl in 1981.
Consequently, some changes in plans between it and subsequent episodes remain obvious to this day. While the trilogy managed to turn one of them into one of the most famous twists in the history of cinema, other elements could not be maneuvered around so gracefully, particularly if they still have lingered for a time. Most notably, the romantic attraction between Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa that was implied throughout the original movie.
It was further played up in the early tie-in comics and the Splinter of the Mind's Eye novel. The Empire Strikes Back still played with the idea – while Leia spent most of the movie in the company of Han Solo and there were clear romantic tensions between them, it also featured her full-on kiss with Luke – a situation that could as easily be interpreted as building up a proper love triangle, as merely making Leia's punish Han for his boorish conceit.
But as we all know, Return of the Jedi eventually revealed Luke and Leia to be siblings. So no wonder, that Lucasfilm tried to make us forget about any hints of romance between them ever since, and particularly of that kiss in the first part of TESB (far less innocent than the "for luck" kiss in ANH, however you look at it).
As for how successful they are at it – well, as fortune would have it, Han and Leia were the preferred pairing among the fans to start with, so the fandom is mostly content to forget about the love triangle that wasn't, remembering about what could have been only in the context of discussions on the history of Star Wars.