12 Ridiculous Early Concept Designs Of Iconic Characters

When the concept art scares the hell out of the director, maybe it's time to reconsider.

George Lucas told artist Lain McCaig to draw his worst nightmare, and apparently that was a pale skinny Lil Yachty with longer dreads, black eyes, and silver teeth. When McCaig showed the first rendition to Lucas, George was shocked and immediately requested that McCaig draw his second worst nightmare. Episode 1 aimed to be lighter in town with young Anakin and Jar Jar Binks. They couldn't afford to have a visually repugnant villain.

McCaig's second worst nightmare was clowns, and the face paint later gave him the inspiration for what we now know as the unmistakable, dual-blade wielding, master killing, sith lord. Darth Maul ended up being one of the few bright spots in the overall disappointing Phantom Menace, thanks to his eerie appearance as well as Ray Park's athletic performance as the character in the first of the prequel's expertly choreographed lightsaber duels.

While Darth Maul's design and performance certainly elevated the film, one has to wonder if Lucas wasn't so motivated to make the movie as marketable as possible, how the film would have fared with the original concept on the screen instead. Sure, some viewers may have a few restless nights, but that's a small price to pay for quality art.