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Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (1977) is about to look very different, although the changes won’t involve new visual effects, deleted scenes, or another revision to George Lucas’ original space opera.
Instead, Lucasfilm is preparing a new version of the movie that will see some of its most recognizable on-screen text changed.
Star Wars (1977) Is Being Digitally Altered
The project is Star Wars: Gobaith Newydd, the first Welsh-language version of A New Hope.
Announced by Lucasfilm, Disney, S4C, and Creative Wales in August, the version will premiere on S4C and across its platforms on Christmas Day, December 25, 2026, ahead of the film’s 50th anniversary in 2027.
But because the movie’s opening text is part of the experience, it can’t simply remain untouched while the dialogue is presented in another language.
The official teaser already provides a glimpse at these changes, showing the opening crawl translated into Welsh, including the familiar “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….”
The Welsh translation of that iconic line is “Amser maith yn ôl, mewn galaeth bell, bell i ffwrdd,” while the movie itself carries the new Welsh title, Star Wars: Gobaith Newydd.
The official announcement also provided the Welsh translation of “May the Force be with you”: “A boed i’r Grym fod gyda chi.” But, of course, the changes go beyond replacing on-screen text.
As the release is a full Welsh-language dub, the entire original cast has been replaced (the original actors’ voices, at least), with Matthew Rhys as Han Solo, Rhys Ifans as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Princess Leia, Mark Lewis Jones as Darth Vader, and Osian Morgan as Luke Skywalker. That means audiences won’t be hearing the likes of Mark Hamill, Alec Guinness, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and James Earl Jones when they watch the film on Christmas Day.
Lucasfilm has not publicly detailed every piece of on-screen text that will be altered for the release, so it would be premature to state exactly how the end credits will be handled. Either way, the Welsh actors involved in the dub will presumably need to be credited somehow.
What is clear is that the opening crawl has already been adapted, giving fans a rare look at how one of cinema’s most recognizable sequences is being rebuilt for another language.
Will you watch Star Wars: Gobaith Newydd when it arrives on Christmas Day? Let us know in the comments below!
