10 Star Wars Scenes George Lucas Hated
6. The Force Ghosts - Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi
Not content with removing the eyebrows of Sebastian Shaw's Anakin Skywalker at the end of Return of the Jedi, George Lucas ultimately ended up removing Shaw entirely from one of the film's key shots.
Said shot was the Force Ghost of Anakin joining the spirits of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, taking up his rightful place alongside his fellow Jedi Masters after righting his previous wrongs. Here, the original version of Episode VI had Shaw alongside Sir Alec Guinness and the Frank Oz-controlled Yoda.
This scene actually managed to remain intact throughout Lucas' 1997 Special Editions, but it was the 2004 DVD release of the Holy Trilogy that saw George decide he was no longer happy with this scene. Thus, Sebastian Shaw was out, and Hayden Christensen was in.
That replacement was literally just Christensen's head replacing Shaw's in the Force Ghosts shot. To justify this change, Lucas cited how he now felt that the Anakin seen in this moment should be representative of the last time Anakin was truly good - as in before he embraced the Dark Side.
One clear and obvious counterpoint to this, mind, is surely the last time Anakin was truly good, was in the final moments of his life where he saved Luke and banished the Emperor? In that case, that'd mean his ghostly visage should indeed be that of Sebastian Shaw, no?