Credit: LucasfilmGeorge Lucas might be the creator of Star Wars and is celebrated by fans of the franchise, and one of his crazy ideas would have changed the entire prequel trilogy for a cool lightsaber duel.
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While fans know that Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi fights General Grievous on Utapau in Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith (2005), the director had a lot of different ideas for who was underneath the armor. By the time the movie was released, fans knew that Grievous was an alien turned cyborg due to his injuries.
The villain was meant to highlight the transition of Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader as the movie ended the Prequel Trilogy with Skywalker’s downfall. The Jedi were vanquished, and the dark lords of the Sith reigned in victory over their new empire.
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Of course, Master Yoda and Kenobi tried to stop this by taking on Palpatine and Skywalker, and both duels left the galaxy forever changed. Yoda went into exile, and Kenobi guarded Skywalker’s children, secretly born at Polis Massa before Padme’s death.
George Lucas had several different takes planned for the movie, as the original cut had an additional couple of hours of footage and fights planned. Some scenes showcased different Jedi during the Order 66 scene being killed by their fellow clones, others focused on Shaak Ti dying in several ways, and others were simply additional scenes with Anakin and Padme.
In the end, Lucas chose to keep only a few of the original scenes, and many ideas were left on the cutting board. Dave Filoni took what was left out and incorporated some into a new animated series called Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which was another love project from Lucas to the fans.
Now, one source reveals that a close writer to George Lucas, Henry Gilroy, actually knew more about some of the creator’s original ideas. Gilroy helped write Clone Wars with Lucas and also helped with Star Wars: Rebels. He shared that George almost didn’t include Grievous in the original script as he wanted another villain to return.
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Gilroy shares that Darth Maul was going to make a return and be revealed as the scarred Sith hiding in a cyborg body while fighting Obi-Wan Kenobi:
“George was considering that Grievous was Maul behind the armor plate. It made sense. He’s cut in half, and he’s in this robot body or whatever. I’m glad that Grievous is his own thing anyway, but I thought it was interesting that the concept guys almost talked George into that.”
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This would have been an insane twist, but it’s actually great that George Lucas saved fans from seeing Maul appear in this way. For one, his story in the Clone Wars and Rebels makes way more sense. After his defeat on Naboo, Maul was no longer a sith and it wouldn’t make sense for Palpatine to have him return as a general after losing his status as a Sith Lord.
In the Clone Wars, Maul’s story shows the pain and anguish the character faces for losing everything he rightly wants. He is a survivor and manages to live longer than most fans expected, even if he ends up dying by Kenobi (again). Before the animated series, Maul was considered a joke or, at the very least, a cool villain that died before he had enough time to be anything more than another Star Wars toy.
Now, Maul is a fan-favorite character, and his story continues to be explored, which wouldn’t have happened if Lucas had gone with his original vision. Thank goodness he changed his mind!
Do you think Maul should’ve been in Revenge of the Sith? Let us know what you think!