The Star Wars franchise has a history when it comes to offering unnecessary origin stories for the names of classic characters, but thanks to a tidbit recently shared by the Star Wars Holocron Twitter account, you may genuinely find that the name “C-3PO” takes on just a little more emotional weight.
As you may recall, Anthony Daniels’ character was built by none other than Anakin Skywalker while he still just a young boy on Tatooine. Given these origins as a homemade design, you may find it a bit odd that the droid was given what sounds like an assembly line name, but as Star Wars Holocron points out, the “3” in “C-3PO” was included by Anakin as a reference to the character being the third member of the Skywalker family after himself and his mother. And while it’s unclear when and how this detail was first made canon, it’s still a nice idea that paints the young Anakin as a lonely little guy.
Since becoming a part of the Skywalker family, 3PO has gone on to see many things throughout the Star Wars saga, having so far appeared in all eight episodes of the main series. Naturally, the droid is also coming back for Episode IX, with Daniels recently signing off his final day on set with a heartfelt social media message paying tribute to the cast and crew.
Though plot details remain thin on J.J. Abrams’ upcoming trilogy-closer, a set photo shared by R2-D2 actor Jimmy Vee earlier this week at least indicates that 3PO will get some screen time opposite his old droid companion. And we’ll find out what the pair get up to when Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20th, 2019.
