8 Scrapped Movie Plots That Turned Up In Other Films

4. Starkiller Base Got Its Name From...

Did you know that George Lucas originally planned for Luke Skywalker to be named Luke Starkiller? Mark Hamill himself has explained that well into production, the character’s name was Starkiller. Members of the film’s production were quite haunted by the name, though, and somebody must have told George Lucas (thickheaded as he is) what they were all thinking: that it was perhaps in reference to Charles Manson, whose followers murdered rising star Sharon Tate and her friends just 7 years before Star Wars began filming. Lucas apparently hadn’t really thought of it that way, but he saw their point, so he changed the name to Skywalker, which you gotta admit, is just better-fitting to the character.

Skip forward nearly 40 years to The Force Awakens, and what do we see, but a Death Star-like weapon that gets its firepower by sucking all the energy from nearby stars, thereby killing them: Starkiller Base. Much more appropriate naming. But is it an homage or a big planet-sized middle finger from Disney to George Lucas? You be the judge!