8 Early Drafts That Almost Ruined Iconic Movie Endings

The third film of the original trilogy, the ending of The Return of the Jedi isn't just an ending, but an ending of endings. Makes sense, right?

In that case, it had to be particularly special - celebrating three films worth of struggle and aptly tying together the main character's arcs into one feel-good extravaganza, and that's exactly what they did. However, there were whispers of another draft that first made the rounds through the Star Wars universe and it's much, much darker.

The Ending

We're all invited to a giant Ewok space party. Darth Vader has rebalanced the force just as the prophecy said he would, and has subsequently passed away. Himself, Yoda, and Obi Wan watch over Luke as force ghosts, smiling down on the rebels that have finally defeated the empire and brought peace to the galaxy. We all wipe away a tear.

The Original

Gary Kurtz tells it best in this L. A. Times interview.

'The original idea was that they would recover [the kidnapped] Han Solo in the early part of the story and that he would then die in the middle part of the film in a raid on an Imperial base. George then decided he didn’t want any of the principals killed. By that time there were really big toy sales and that was a reason.”

The discussed ending of the film that Kurtz favored presented the rebel forces in tatters, Leia grappling with her new duties as queen and Luke walking off alone “like Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti westerns,” as Kurtz put it.

Kurtz said that ending would have been a more emotionally nuanced finale to an epic adventure than the forest celebration of the Ewoks that essentially ended the trilogy with a teddy bear luau.'

Ouch Gary, hit him where it hurts why don't you.