‘Star Wars’ fans are realizing one of the franchise’s most iconic lines was uttered long before many remember

Star Wars fans are realizing that one of the franchise’s most popular lines was spoken long before what they originally remembered. Among a swathe of iconic quotes from “I am your father” to “May the force be with you,” one of Star Wars’ most enduring lines comes courtesy of Admiral Ackbar in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, when the fish-like commander yells “It’s a trap!” before an imminent ambush. It remains one of the most persistent pieces of dialogue to be uttered throughout the franchise’s decades-long run and made a star out of voice actor Erik Bauersfeld. 

While Bauersfeld no doubt popularized the line, fans have come to realize that “it’s a trap!” was spoken long before the events of Return of the Jedi, by an equally iconic Star Wars character. “Only just realized [Princess] Leia screams “It’s a Trap!” a whole movie before Admiral Ackbar,” a Star Wars fan wrote on Reddit, accompanied by a scene of the Princess in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. The clip sees Carrie Fisher’s Leia shout the infamous line as a warning to a besieged Luke Skywalker. 

Fans’ realization that the line was spoken long before they originally thought has not lessened the shine of Admiral Ackbar’s later delivery of the catchphrase. “Leia may have done it first, but Ackbar did it best,” a Reddit user wrote in response to the clip, with another adding that “the phrase itself isn’t that unique it’s more about [how] Ackbar says it.” 

So enduring was “it’s a trap!” in the years since Return of the Jedi’s release that it birthed a meme-spree in which users intentionally misspelled “trap” with a range of words, including “tarp.” Elsewhere, the phrase formed the title of the 2010 Family Guy special of the same name and was referenced as an in-joke on the most recent season of The Mandalorian. Following Bauersfeld’s death in 2019, Tom Kane took over the voice-acting reigns for Admiral Ackbar, though we’re not quite sure anyone will be able to muster the same bravado for “it’s a trap” quite like Bauersfeld.