Creator George Lucas: Darth Maul should have been the villain of the “Star Wars” sequels

The creator of “Star Wars” George Lucas (76) had nothing to do with the last three films of the Skywalker saga, not least because Disney, which bought his production company Lucasfilm from him in 2012, does not. He wanted. In any case, he had ideas for the final trilogy of his space story, and Disney bought them from him – but in the end almost none of them flowed into episodes “VII” to “IX”.

In the newly published 600-page book “The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005”, George Lucas now reveals that it’s not incredibly cheap at 190 francs (if you don’t have a Christmas present for the author of this article: now you know) some pretty spectacular plot points he had planned for the sequels – if he was allowed to produce them.

Here they are – plus some geeky curiosity for fans:

You read that right, viewers who have only seen the main films: after Obi Wan-Kenobi halved the horned Sith in “Episode I: The Phantom Menace”, Darth Maul’s upper body survived (only “Star Wars “, okay?) And I used the Force to build a makeshift abdomen.

Later, his legs and mind were restored by the Force, and Maul resurrected in the underworld – anyone who has seen “The Clone Wars” series knows this – and as a criminal mastermind, therefore, he had a very brief appearance, but all the more surprising in the 2018 spin-off film “Solo: A Star Wars Story” (watch the video above!).

“After the fall of the empire (in ‘Episode VI: Return of the Jedi’), Maul finally becomes the gangster godfather of the universe,” Lucas says in the book. Darth Talon, known from the “Legacy” comic, would become Maul’s pupil – and thus something similar to Darth Vader in the sequel trilogy.

Luke Skywalker’s efforts to rebuild the Jedi Order are only hinted at in brief flashbacks in “Episode VIII: The Last Jedi”. George Lucas would have emphasized this point and the construction of the New Republic.

Luke’s twin sister Leia would rise to the post of Supreme Chancellor and resist the new threat – according to Lucas, an IS-reminiscent terrorist organization made up of scattered Stormtroopers, aka Darth Sidious’ death, who have been missing. and leaderless after Palpatines, as well as Darth Maul. Lucas: “It would be you been the chosen one. “Then Leia would restore peace, not Luke, as was commonly believed.

Just “would” and “would”, we arrive at the promised curiosity. In “The Phantom Menace,” Anakin Skywalker’s mother Shmi reveals to Qui-Gon Jinn that her son has no father. She became pregnant and gave birth to him – “I can’t explain what happened.”

But George Lucas can: Originally, the script for “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” said that Palpatine / Sidious had triggered the pregnancy. He “used the power to stimulate the midi-chlorians to divide” so that the anakin embryo could arise. The explanation did not enter the film.

What are midi-chlorians? Oh come on, these are the basics, cough. In the “Star Wars” universe, this is a microscopic life form that occurs in the cells of all living things. The more you have, the greater your powers of power will be.

“Solo” (2018), which takes place between episodes “III” and “IV”, shows how the smuggler Han Solo has slipped into the interweaving of “Star Wars”. George Lucas originally planned an appearance for the character in “Revenge of the Sith” (2005).

Han allegedly lived as an orphan with the Wookies on their home planet Kashyyyk and helped Yoda as a teenager. He then rejected the idea because it was too confusing. Or in Lucas’s words: “He’s stupid.”

It’s the oldest and one of the most suspicious controversies in the Star Wars saga: Who first shot the Mos Eisley Cellar in Episode IV: A New Hope – Han Solo or the Bounty Hunter Greedo? George Lucas finally clarifies: Greedo fired first, but didn’t hit Han, after which Han returned fire and put out Greedo.

“Han is not an unscrupulous killer. Nice Guys always shoot in self-defense. When I cut the scene in 1977 (then “A New Hope” was released), it was impossible to say who would shoot first. He redid the scene for the 1997 special edition of the original “Star Wars” – it’s been clear since then that it was Greedo who opened fire.