Although Han Solo has hired Chewbaca, the latter is clearly a sidekick, and his "people" are absent in any decision making positions throughout both imperial and rebel communities.
LOL...I had NO idea.
No one was thinking that in 1977. 20th Century Fox was just praying they’d make their money back. Mark Hamill has said that, at the time, they’d consider themselves lucky if Star Wars did as well as Planet of the Apes. Only Steven Spielberg could see that Lucas may have a huge hit on his hands.