10 Unused Star Wars Scenes That Would Have Changed Everything
1. The Opening To Return Of The Jedi
After its opening scene of Vader arriving at the Death Star II, Return Of The Jedi kicks off with R2-D2 and C-3PO trundling and waddling respectively towards the gates of Jabba's palace on Tatooine. They proceed to bumble their way towards an audience with the malevolent mafia slug.
In original cuts of the movie this sequence was preceded by shots of Luke Skywalker preparing for his mission to rescue Han and Chewie by building a new lightsaber to replace the one he lost at Bespin (along with the hand holding it). As he broods in a cave near the palace, Darth Vader tries to contact him with the Force and convince him to join in the overthrow of the Emperor.
The scene would have helped explain what Luke's been up to since Bespin and shown him in an even darker mode, hooded and grim, than he appears later in the palace. It also reiterates Vader's motivation to make Luke into his apprentice, hinted at during his previous confrontation with Luke. The scene was fully filmed, but was left out of the final cut.