Summary
Star Warsmanages to mix fantasy and science fiction while telling a rare sort of hero’s journey that sees one of its most powerful villains redeemed in a very pivotal manner, but that redemption was almost undermined by a stylistic choice in the prequels.
The originalStar Warstrilogy is often completely removed from fan critique of the franchise, and with good reason. The film series stands up well to scrutiny and has been well loved for decades. Part of the reason for the success of this space opera hero’s journey was the antagonists crafted for Luke Skywalker to go up against. While Darth Vader is easily one of the most iconic villains in fiction, there’s no one more powerful and frightful to Luke and the film’s other characters than Ian McDiarmid’s Emperor Palpatine,a role the iconic star pretty much lucked intoduring the original trilogy. Palpatine, revealed to be the villainous Darth Sidious, serves as the final boss of the original films and an instrument of Vader’s redemption.
In addition to his performance in the original trilogy, McDiarmid also returned to feature even more prominently in the prequel trilogy, reprising his role, this time as Senator (then Chancellor) Sheev Palpatine. One of the most important and pivotal scenes in that second film series is the confrontation between Sidious and Mace Windu in the Chancellor’s office, and that fateful duel has beenhotly debated by fans and even McDiarmid himself. However, the whole thing was almost completely different in a very consequential fashion. As revealed in a recent report fromCollider, behind-the-scenes footage reveals that the iconic scene was done in a few different ways before the final version was decided on. In that alternate version, Palpatine would have used Anakin’s lightsaber in his duel against Windu in a movie that would certainly have had some symbolic significance had it made the final cut. However, this version of events would see Anakin present to observe the entire battle, drastically changing the franchise’s central narrative in a massive way.Anakin would have been present for the entire confrontation to facilitate the Emperor’s alternate weapon choice.
Revenge of the SithCould’ve Changed The Franchise’s Entire Narrative With One Simple Choice
The setup for Anakin’s choice to aid Palpatine is an understated bit of storytelling that does way more in the story than some fans might realize. This was the final step in Palpatine’s long-running plan to turn Anakin to the Dark Side, which is itself an important part ofthe intricate plot that started unfurling from the start of the prequelsand crested with his coronation as Emperor. A key factor in that was Anakin walking in at a point in the duel where he could realistically believe that Windu had indeed come to assassinate the Chancellor, andif Anakin had arrived earlier and witnessed Palpatine’s savage and ruthless destruction of the Jedi Masters that tried to arrest him, that would have never worked. The final version that made it to screens doesn’t even give Anakin a chance to see Palpatine wield a lightsaber at all, making his subsequent actions fit perfectly into the character arc he’s on. Also, Palpatine’s custom red lightsaber is just way cooler and fits the scene much better.
While it might be cool to imagineWhat If…?style alternate setups for pivotal moments inStar Wars, fans will agree that the way things ended up was likely the best choice. Anakin’s transformation to Darth Vader and how it contrasts withPalpatine’s riveting (and willful) journey to the Dark Sideare an integral part of the central narrative of the franchise, and it’s great that Lucas and company went with the choice that didn’t undermine that.
