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In recent years, there's been a movement to record dubs of major Hollywood films in languages that are considered vulnerable or endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. For instance, there is a Comanche dub of the Predator prequel film, Prey, while there's a dub of the animated Moana film in te reo Māori. And now, Welsh actors Matthew Rhys and Rhys Ifans are teaming up with Lucasfilm, Disney, S4C, and the Welsh Government to create a Welsh-language dub of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. 

According to Empire, the Welsh dub will be called Gobaith Newydd and will feature Matthew Rhys as Han Solo, Rhys Ifans as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Princess Leia. Mark Lewis Jones, who played a menacing First Order captain in The Last Jedi, will voice Darth Vader. 

Lucasfilm's co-president, Lynwen Brennan, is enthusiastic about the caliber of Welsh talent in the dub, saying the following in a statement: "Wales has such a rich history of storytelling and a beautiful lyrical language. We have never before had a translation of Star Wars into Welsh and I am so thankful, that in celebration of our 50th anniversary, we have been able to work with some incredible Welsh talent to make that a reality. Welsh speakers will finally be able to enjoy the film in our native language and my hope is that it will have the same emotional impact as if you were watching the film again for the first time." 

The dub is expected to hit platforms on December 25 this year, as part of Lucasfilm's larger celebration of 50 years of Star Wars in 2027.

Get to know, understand, and love the Star Wars franchise more with our Star Wars watch order, guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies & TV shows, and all the Star Wars movies and Star Wars TV shows ranked.