Actor Who Played 20 Different Ewoks in “Return of the Jedi” Reveals Surprising Truth About the Costumes

Kevin Thompson played not just one of the most memorable characters in 1983’s Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. In fact, he played 20.

On the Feb. 10 episode of Pod Meets World, Kevin and his wife Tracey McCoy Thompson — who both worked as stand-ins for the child actors on Boy Meets World — opened up about his experiences playing Ewoks in Return of the Jedi.

“The suits were very tough,” Kevin said. “We were little bears, space bears.” The first layer of the costume was a two-inch-thick padded suit, which came in three pieces. “Then you put a fur coat over that, then latex feet, latex hands, and lastly, a latex mask with plastic eyes that would fog up as soon as you put it on.”

“I'm 20 different Ewoks. I'm in all the battles,” Kevin said, because he was the “main stunt actor” for the Ewoks. His “signature Ewok” is Chubbray, identified by the white hair around one eye. “I play 20 different Ewoks because I take out all three AT-STs, so I can't be in three different spots. I swing into the Village. I do every single swing,” he added.

Kevin said that earlier in his life, he had been a gymnast, a wrestler and a mime. When he auditioned for the 1983 film, he said, “I ran around and I did many different gymnastic moves, and I actually ran full speed into a wall, fell backwards, went into a handstand and fell.” The stunt coordinator was impressed and immediately snagged him to play the agile Ewoks.

But when he auditioned, he had no clue it was for a Star Wars sequel. “I didn't know until I got to London,” he said. “And I went, ‘Wait a minute, that's Mark Hamill. That's Carrie Fisher, that's R2-D2. That’s Kenny Baker.’ ”

In 2022, Kevin and Tracey published a book, My Journey to Endor. Tracey wrote down Kevin’s stories about working on the movie. “I tried to write it, but all I had was notes,” Kevin said. She told the podcast hosts, “Every time we went into a grocery store or wherever, he would always see a kid with a Star Wars shirt and say, ‘Hey, I'm in that. Do you wanna hear the stories?’”

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Kevin also appeared in another movie starring Harrison Ford, 1982’s Blade Runner. He also told the hosts that he ended up appearing as three different characters in the movie after he accidentally befriended director Ridley Scott.

Kevin and Tracey got involved with Boy Meets World thanks to their working relationship with director John Tracy, who worked on Growing Pains. He directed the original pilot of Boy Meets World and brought them on to the project.

Tracey said that they acted as a “go-between” between the child actors and the directors, because the directors “didn’t have a lot of time” once the kids came on set. “And I just remember always, John would say  just over the intercom in front of everybody, ‘Tracey, did you give 'em their notes?’ ”

Tracey and Kevin also told host Danielle Fishel that they remembered the day she came in to replace the original actress who was cast as Topanga. 

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