8 Different Versions Of Star Wars Episode VII That Were Almost Made

7. The Fourth Film In The Overarching Story Straight After Return Of The Jedi

When Did It Almost Happen? Planned during the development of the original sequels.

Return Of The Jedi may now be known as the end of Anakin Skywalker's journey (assuming Vader's not insensitively exhumed in later movies), but that wasn't always the case. When first developing sequels to the 1977 original, Lucas toyed with the series being an even more epic story than it wound up being.

In various interviews around the release of The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas was adamant the Saga was a nine-part deal, while producer Gary Kurtz has revealed some of the broader plot points. In this version of events, Vader would die at the end of VI, with Luke heading off into the galaxy to find his sister (who wasn't Leia). The Emperor wouldn't be introduced until later on, remaining a hidden puppet-master for much of the series, with Luke finally taking him on in Episode IX.

The Episode VII here would be predominantly dealing with Luke's exploration of the galaxy, and according the Lucas would have been more "ethereal". These ideas were in development consistently until Return Of The Jedi entered pre-production. There it was decided to tie together all the set-up plot threads (the Emperor, Luke's twin) tightly in one film, leaving little scope for their exploration in later movies.