8 Scenes That Would Have Ruined The Original Star Wars Trilogy

1. Luke Skywalker Becomes The New Vader - Return Of The Jedi

The ending of Return of the Jedi is classic: Vader saves Luke from the Emperor but is mortally wounded in the process. He shares a brief moment with his son before he dies. The Death Star II explodes and on Endor our heroes celebrate their victory. Yay! Originally, though, Lucas pitched an ending scene to writer Lawrence Kasdan of the mind-blowingly dark variety - one that would have come straight after Vader's death scene and succeeded in changing the face of Star Wars entirely. Here's what Lucas pitched:

"Luke takes his mask off. The mask is the very last thing €” and then Luke puts it on and says, 'Now I am Vader.' Surprise! The ultimate twist. 'Now I will go and kill the fleet and I will rule the universe.'"

And guess what Kasdan's response to this was? "That's what I think should happen." Can you imagine? Can you imagine if Return of the Jedi had ended on such a horrifyingly blunt and depressing note, with Luke Skywalker vowing to kill everybody's favourite characters and rule the universe? Yes, there's probably a small part in every Star Wars fan that wants to see what this would have looked like, but not really. Not actually. Truth is, this would have been a pretty awful way to end the saga, especially since most Star Wars fans at the time were either kids or teenagers. There's no doubt that - had they opted for this alternate ending - the backlash would have been plainly huge, and millions of fans all over the world would have fallen to the ground, cursing Lucas' name forever. Before they started doing that because of the prequel films, anyway. Like this article? Agree or disagree that these scenes would have ruined the original Star Wars trilogy? Let us know all your Star Wars thoughts in the comments section below.