The story behind the stop motion Jabba the Hut in Star Wars (1977)
One significant alteration is clearly evident when comparing Jabba the Hutt – while Declan Mulholland portrayed him in the 1977 release, he morphed into the colossal, slug-like puppet we’re familiar with by the time of Return of the Jedi. During the 1997 re-releases and advancements in CGI technology, Mulholland was swapped out, but there were whispers that initially, Mulholland was intended as a placeholder for a stop motion version.