The Navajo dub of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is undoubtedly one of the most significant steps towards cultural inclusion in recent years. There can be no doubt about the widespread popularity of the Star Wars franchise, and dubbing it into this 500-year old language opens the doors for such steeped heritage to seep into pop culture.
As the States celebrate National native American heritage Month, Manuelito Wheeler, the man behind the Navajo dub of Star Wars, talks about how his coveted vision achieved fruition. In an interview with StarWars.com, he said this.
Wheeler, who is currently the Director of the Navajo Nation Museum, and his wife Jennifer, who teaches Navajo from the elementary school level to university, took upon this quest in order to spread awareness about the Navajo heritage and the language. Although the term Navajo is quite well-known, the language is not quite as widespread. The 500-year old language is not spoken in pop culture or even in everyday city life within the Navajo Nation, which is Federally protected land including portions of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado.
“It shattered the world’s perception of Navajo people and Native people.”
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Fearing the mortal fate of this language, the couple decided to embark on this quest to dub Star Wars into Navajo. When the project was completed in 2012, it was the first feature film to be ever dubbed in Navajo.
The Story Behind the Navajo Dubbed ‘Star Wars Episode IV’
Wheeler himself is a big fan of the franchise, and the idea was born when he bought a script of Episode IV: A New Hope.
Thus began his patient efforts of getting Lucasfilm interested in this project. Finally, he received a reply from Michael Kohn at Lucasfilm.
“I took it to my wife and said, ‘Can you translate this? Translate the first five pages of the script.’ I thought it was going to come the next day, or in a few days. ‘Whenever you can get to it, that would be good.’ But she came back in like, 20 minutes. ‘Here’s the script.’ That really blew me away and made me think it could be possible.”
The project was spearheaded by Wheeler, and it was completed by the end of 2012. Subsequently, Disney had offered an executive screening room at its Burbank headquarters for the first screening of the film.
“He said, ‘Your email below was sent to me today. I’m reaching out to discuss your proposal.’ That was January 30, 2012… I don’t know if I yelled, but I definitely called my wife, first thing. That’s how the process started.”
Currently, Disney+ also features this version of the iconic film on its platform. The Navajo dub of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is a huge cultural milestone, one that opened the doors for many other films to be dubbed in the same, like Finding Nemo.
“The Navajo Nation president and vice president came, myself, my wife, and some other executive Navajo staff. And that’s the first time I teared up… Even the [opening] crawl was done in Navajo.”
