'Star Wars' Is About to Change 'Return of the Jedi' Forever - Inside the Magic

Fans might be shocked that 40 years later, Lucasfilm still has a few ideas left to change Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi (1983) in one of the best ways possible. This Return of the Jedi change might even be something George Lucas never intended to include in the story.

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As the final installment of the Original Trilogy, George Lucas concluded one of the best stories ever told. The epic fight between good and evil is demonstrated when Emperor Palpatine forces Luke to face his father again, but after beating Darth Vader, he reveals to the Sith Lord that he’s a Jedi, just like his father, Anakin.

Palpatine dies due to Darth Vader’s sacrifice as the fallen hero saves the galaxy, but his sacrifice costs him his life. In his final moments, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) drags Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones) across the second Death Star to a nearby shuttle. Before getting into the ship, Vader asks Luke one final thing. To see his son with his own eyes.

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The iconic helmet is lifted, and Luke sees his father for the first and final time. A scarred Anakin looks at his son one final time and reassures Luke Skywalker before dying on the space station. Fans of the franchise knew this wasn’t the last time we got to see the character. Anakin appears as a force ghost moments later at the end of the movie with Obi-Wan and Yoda.

Originally, Sebastian Shaw appeared as Anakin’s force ghost, but Lucas changed this in the special edition to include Hayden Christensen as the force ghost. In Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith (2005), Yoda communes with Qui-Gon Jinn to learn how to become a force ghost which explains how Yoda and Obi-Wan become one with the force, but Anakin’s appearance as a force ghost was still a mystery, but will be revealed soon!

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StarWars.com just revealed that the next installment in the “From A Certain Point of View” collection, a new book, will tell stories from Return of the Jedi, with one slated to cover Anakin’s journey into becoming one with the force. Mike Chen is writing the story, and it seems that fans will get to explore more about the force outside of Star Wars: The Clone Wars to better understand how Anakin was able to be his younger self as a force ghost. After 40 years, this is a pivotal Return of the Jedi change as it can completely alter how fans look at the movie after the story is out in the wild.

One theory was that Skywalker’s tragic downfall into the dark side was when he was young, so when he finally redeemed himself, his force ghosts revealed the face of when he was last using the light side. Obi-Wan (Alec Guinness) and Yoda (Frank Oz) used the light side until they died, so they didn’t show off a younger version of their characters.

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In the end, Star Wars is finally going to answer some questions fans have had for over a decade, and it’s about time since the movie will be 4o years old, and it’s best not to leave significant changes like this shrouded in mystery.

Are you looking forward to learning about Anakin’s journey into becoming “one with the force?” Let Inside the Magic know what you think!