Since the word first broke that Star Wars Episode 7 was in production, we've brought you the latest news and gossip about castings, plot and story lines, and even budget and script finalization! Some of our readers have enjoyed it, while others have taken us to task for it. In this spirit, let's take a look at the top 7 Star Wars rumors of times gone by... rumors that fans, at the time, actually believed, and some which even turned out to be true!

7. Leonardo DiCaprio as Anakin Skywalker: Oh, what could have been. Fans of the movie who excoriated Hayden Christiansen's performance as a whiny, emo, angst-ridden teenager wished desperately that this rumor was true. This rumor was started in 1999 (many of us had 56kbps modems at the time), and came hot on the heels of DiCaprio's performance in "Titanic." In 2010, DiCaprio admitted that the rumor had some basis in fact: "I did have a meeting with George Lucas about [Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels] as well, yes." he said. "Just didn't feel ready to take that dive. At that point." Other actors reportedly considered at the time were James Van Der Beek, Joshua Jackson, Eric Christian Olsen, Erik von Detten, Ryan Phillippe and Chris Klein.

6. Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) Would Get Naked in Episode I: Another pre-millennium rumor, this rumor came about on TheForce.net after Lucas gave the word that the prequels would have "darker" undertones than the classic films. While none of the Star Wars films have ever earned an R-rating (all of the films have a PG rating, except for Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, which has a PG-13 rating), Portman getting naked would definitely have earned the films its first R-rating. Given the tone of the film, as well as the fact that Natalie wasn't 18 years old at the time it was shot, this rumor (which obviously turned out to be false) had more than a slight creep factor to it.

5. Han Solo Was Going To Die in Empire: This trailer (released in 1979) is to blame for this rumor (gotta love the pre-re-release non-special effects!):

Granted, this trailer doesn't tell much about the movie to begin with, but it caused an uproar at the time, and fans were threatening to boycott the film if it resulted in the death of their beloved Han Solo. 

4. Mick Jagger Was Going to Compose the Score for Empire: Happy with the free press and rumors surrounding the pre-release of Empire, the rumors in the fan-zines (remember, this was pre-Internet) was that Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger was going to compose the score for the sequel. Lucas, however, went to Starlog and disabused everyone of the notion... especially after John Williams (the film's composer) won the Academy Award for Best Score. 

3. Christopher Walken Plays Darth Bane in Episode II: Don't confuse this character with "Bane" from the Batman movie... Darth Bane plays a pivotal role in the Extended Universe, and it would have been AMAZING for Christopher Walken to play him in Episode II. Unfortunately, that too was not to be.

2. Obi-Wan and Padme Had An Affair: This would seem to make sense, given everyone's dispositions and personalities. Anakin even makes reference to it in Episode III, when he screams "You're with HIM!" in an accusatory tone before choking his pregnant wife. (Jeez...) And this, of course, is a hat-tip to an even OLDER rumor that dates back to the original saga, when it was speculated that Obi-Wan was the father of Luke & Leia. Naturally... this too wasn't true. 

1. Darth Vader is Luke's Father: We all know now that this is true. But this rumor first originated in 1979, when David Prowse (the bodybuilder who played Darth Vader; James Earl Jones provided the voice) spoke to Starlog. Given, again, that this was pre-Twitter and other social media, this didn't become "viral," and only die-hard fans of the film had an inkling about the way things would play out. "In the film, Alec Guinness goes to great lengths to explain to poor Luke how his father had been killed by Darth Vader. Luke's father was killed by Darth Vader, right? And how Darth Vader turned to evil, etc., etc. His father was good and all this sort of thing. In the next film, there is going to be a confrontation between Luke and Darth Vader and they then discover that Darth Vader never killed his father, that Darth Vader IS his father. So son can't kill father, and father can't kill son -- so Darth Vader lives until the next sequel."