STAR WARS: 5 Great Ideas George Lucas Cut From The Prequel Trilogy (And 3 Which Sucked)

STAR WARS: 5 Great Ideas George Lucas Cut From The Prequel Trilogy (And 3 Which Sucked)

When the time came for George Lucas to reveal Anakin Skywalker's origin story in the Star Wars prequels, the filmmaker came up with a lot of good ideas he ultimately cut...and some pretty rotten ones too!

By JoshWilding - Aug 26, 2023 11:08 AM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars
Source: SFFGazette.com

There was a period when the Star Wars prequels were considered a low point for this beloved franchise. The sequels have since become even more divisive among fans, of course, and the kids who grew up watching The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith have helped change the narrative.

Now, Hayden Christensen is widely praised for his work as Anakin Skywalker, while even longtime fans have grown to appreciate the ground broken by filmmaker George Lucas in terms of the technology he pioneered. 

While developing these movies, the writer and director came up with a long list of ideas, many of which never actually made it to the screen. We've rounded up a mixture of awesome and awful concepts cut from the prequel trilogy, including scrapped origins, major plot twists, and developments capable of changing the foundations of this series as we know it. 

To find out more, either click on the "Next" button below or head to SFFGazette.com to read the whole thing on one page. Many thanks to Jeremy Chong for the banner image above (and yes, we'll explain what the female Maul's significance later in this feature!).
 

8. Anakin Skywalker's Extended Family - AWFUL

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The Phantom Menace strongly hinted that there might be something strange about Anakin's birth and the similarities to the immaculately conceived Jesus were impossible to ignore. 

The plan had been to eventually reveal that Emperor Palpatine created the young Skywalker through the Force, manipulating events to ensure he'd eventually have an immensely powerful Sith by his side. In fact, Lucas even considered repurposing the "I am your father" line for this big reveal!

Thankfully, the filmmaker came to the conclusion it was too convoluted. At another point, Lucas also thought about revealing Anakin and Boba Fett were biological brothers; that also felt too contrived and would have surely been widely ridiculed. 
 

7. Revenge of the Sith's Alternate Title - AWESOME

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While Lucas went into the prequel trilogy with a rough idea of where he wanted the story to go, he was once again very much making it up as he went. 

Before settling on Episode III's title, Revenge of the Sith, the filmmaker considered other options. The Creeping Fear was one, and that was later announced as the movie's moniker as part of an April Fool's Day joke! On a more serious note, he also mulled over Rise of the Empire and Birth of the Empire.

Both would have worked well, though we'd say Lucas' throwback to Return of the Jedi's original title - Revenge of the Jedi - ended up being a pretty cool name for this trilogy's finale. 
 

6. Han Solo's Origin Story - AWESOME

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Talking of Revenge of the Sith, with the prequels now just 20 years away from A New Hope, Lucas started thinking about ways to connect the two trilogies. 

He decided fairly early on to feature Chewbacca and intended to reveal that an orphaned Han Solo was being raised by the Wookie on Kashyyyk. The future smuggler was going to help repel the attacking clones but the director decided there wasn't room and ditched the idea of these two having a father/son relationship.

Interestingly, an adult Lando Calrissian cameo was also briefly considered before it was widely decided it didn't really make sense in terms of the franchise's timeline.
 

5. Qui-Gon Jinn's Extended Role - AWESOME

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While Qui-Gon Jinn's death in The Phantom Menace still stings, it paved the way for Obi-Wan Kenobi to take Anakin Skywalker as his Padawan. Many feel the boy's turn to the Dark Side began with that loss and early plans called for Qui-Gon to play a larger role beyond his death.

One idea had been for Qui-Gon to appear as a Force Ghost, attempting to stop the child he once met on Tatooine from embracing the way of the Sith. 

The Clone Wars ended up putting a slightly different spin on the idea, but we didn't get to see Qui-Gon again in live-action until last year's Obi-Wan Kenobi (Lucas was who originally decided to have the Jedi Master teach both Yoda and Ben how to defeat death). 

Click HERE to read the rest of this feature at SFFGazette.com
(without having to click through any extra pages).

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Fogs
Fogs - 8/26/2023, 11:02 AM
"Click HERE to read the rest of this feature at SFFGazette.com"

MikeyL
MikeyL - 8/26/2023, 11:06 AM
@Fogs - how the [frick] is it allowed for them to post only half an article? Take this low effort shit down, admins
Reeds2Much
Reeds2Much - 8/26/2023, 11:31 AM
Grand Theft Megumi Tensai Spider-Genshin.

You're welcome.
santoanderson
santoanderson - 8/26/2023, 12:02 PM
That young Han Solo/Chewbacca thing sounds awful. I prefer the idea that these two strangers ran into one another on a mission/job in their past, became fast friends, and have been inseparable ever since.

Besides, it reminds me of a Mr. Plinkett joke in one of the RedLetterMedia prequel reviews, wherein they joke that young Han Solo should’ve been present at Luke and Leia’s birth, and it’s an eight year old kid wearing a dime store Han Solo Halloween costume.
TheManWithoutFear
TheManWithoutFear - 8/26/2023, 12:53 PM
Just confirm Darth Jar Jar. Then remake every movie after Ep1
AnthonyVonGeek
AnthonyVonGeek - 8/26/2023, 1:17 PM
In A New Hope Han says…
“I've gone from one end of the galaxy to the other, and I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe that there's some all-powerful force controlling everything”
It wasn’t until helping Luke that he started to believe.
And you think a kid Han working with Jedi would be awesome?
🙄🤣👎
marvel72
marvel72 - 8/26/2023, 2:07 PM
I would like to have seen Ventress and Darth Talon needs to feature in a movie.
PartyKiller
PartyKiller - 8/26/2023, 10:15 PM
There was an old video showing Lucas handwriting Episode I. There was a line asking if Shmi was connected to the Sith. Her reaction when Qui Gon was talking about Anakin's Midichlorians was suspicious.

But it would've taken away from the story if Anakin turning evil was a matter of genetic programming. It was better that he had a real choice.
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 8/27/2023, 4:05 AM
So for anyone who is deep into Star Wars lore, The concept of Sith make no sense to me and I would like clarification. The Sith code is two: Master and Apprentice and it's destined for the Apprentice to kill their master. But why are Force users with Lightsabers who pledged their loyalty to the dark side and the Empire not considered Sith? Such as the Inquisitors and the villains of Ahsoka's show.
ninerstreet
ninerstreet - 8/27/2023, 9:08 AM
@SonOfAGif - Any Force user can fall to the Dark Side. To become a Sitb though requires adopting the ways and beliefs of the Sitb Order and being trained in their ways by a Sith. All Jedi are Force users but not all Force users are Jedi, just like all Sith Lords are committed to the Dark side of the Force but not all those committed to the Dark Side of the Force are Sith Lords. Since their are levels to Force abilities and there is the “Rule of two” it makes sense that the current Sith Lord would only take on an extremely powerful Dark Side user as his or her one apprentice. Hope that helped!
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 8/27/2023, 1:22 PM
@ninerstreet - It did help indeed but the Inquisitors still confuse me since they are essentially a Dark Side hit squad. Strange they wouldn't be considered Sith since almost all of them adopted the ways of the Dark Side.

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