Think about this: What if Luke Skywalker was just Dorothy Gale in a galaxy far, far away?
Sounds like I’m crazy, right? Sure, it’s a question that seems almost too absurd to entertain—did Star Wars rip off The Wizard of Oz? Well, one thing we do know is that the comparisons are striking. Since its 1977 debut, Star Wars: A New Hope has been praised as a groundbreaking epic movie, but rumors keep swirling that George Lucas’s space opera might owe more than just a wink to the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. From farm-dwelling heroes and eccentric sidekicks to mystical journeys and evil overlords, the similarities between the two movies are uncanny enough to make even Yoda raise an eyebrow. Coincidence or clever homage? Let’s journey down the yellow brick hyperspace lane and check out the parallels that might make you rethink whether Star Wars is more “new” or a cleverly repurposed classic.
The resemblance starts with our heroes. Dorothy Gale and Luke Skywalker are cut from the same homespun cloth—farm kids stuck in mundane lives, yearning for something greater. Dorothy’s Kansas is a black-and-white prison; Luke’s Tatooine is a desert wasteland. Both characters are whisked away by forces outside their control (a tornado for Dorothy, a droid message for Luke) into extraordinary, colorful worlds where they’ll meet strange allies, face impossible odds, and uncover their true destinies.
And what about those quirky sidekicks, right? Dorothy’s ragtag companions—Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion—mirror Luke’s motley crew in some pretty eerie ways. Han Solo, like the Scarecrow, is the street-smart rogue with hidden depth and comedic relief. Chewbacca is a lot like the Cowardly Lion, with his brute strength but a gentle, loyal heart. And C-3PO and R2-D2 are practically the Tin Men, with their mechanical frames and indispensable problem-solving abilities. Much like Dorothy, Luke would be lost without his newfound friends, who each contribute to his survival and growth in his adventure.
We all remember how in The Wizard of Oz, Glinda the Good Witch and the Wizard guide Dorothy in her quest to get back home, offering her wisdom and magical tools to help her on her journey. On the flip side, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda do nearly the exact same thing for Luke, dispensing advice and mystical teachings about the Force. And then we’ve got the Wicked Witch of the West and Darth Vader serving as archetypal villains: dark, ominous figures who seem all-powerful until the heroes uncover their vulnerabilities.
It’s all starting to sound very familiar, right? But there’s more…
Honestly, the structural similarities between the two stories are hard to ignore. Dorothy’s journey to the Emerald City, facing all those challenges along the way, mirrors Luke’s trek to the Death Star to rescue Princess Leia, right down to all the “little people” that they both run into. Also, the reveal of the Wizard as a fraud parallels the shocking discovery of Vader’s humanity in the later films. Both stories end with the protagonists finding strength within themselves rather than relying on outside forces: Dorothy clicks her heels, and Luke trusts the Force to destroy the Death Star.
They sound like the same story to many, but not everybody is sold on this theory.
Critics argue that the resemblance is superficial at best. George Lucas himself credited Flash Gordon serials, Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, and Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress as the true inspirations behind Star Wars. They claim that the shared archetypes and plot structures between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz are nothing more than a result of both stories adhering to the hero’s journey—a universal template found in myths across cultures and time. After all, farm-dwelling heroes and quirky sidekicks are hardly exclusive to Oz, right?
We found this intriguing short clip on the theory and thought you’d enjoy it, whether you’re a conspiracy theorist or a skeptic.
So, is Star Wars: A New Hope a galaxy-sized rip-off of The Wizard of Oz? Perhaps. Or maybe it’s just another iteration of timeless storytelling archetypes repackaged for a new generation. In the end, does it matter? Every story borrows from the past, weaving all sorts of familiar threads into fresh patterns that continue to ignite our imaginations. Whether it’s a Kansas tornado or a Tatooine sandstorm, what keeps us coming back isn’t originality—it’s the magic of the journey. And as long as we’re enchanted by the tales they tell, does it really matter where the yellow bricks—or the hyperspace lanes—lead us?
Till next time, be wickedly wonderful.
