Star Wars: 10 Secrets Of The Jedi Temple You Need To Know
2. The Jedi Temple Massacre Was Meant To Be More Brutal
The first five Star Wars films received a U for Universal rating, which is odd considering how violent the franchise can be. Even though there are scenes of rancors eating gamoreans, Darth Vader blowing up a planet, and people being ripped in half, the censor board regarded these moments as kid-friendly.
However, no one was surprised when Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith became the first movie in the series to receive a PG rating. Not only does the film depict genocide, dismemberment, and a character being burned alive, Anakin Skywalker slaughters children after he storms The Jedi Temple. As brutal as the Jedi Temple Massacre is, it could've been much worse. Originally, we were meant to see the gatekeeper being impaled through the skull, and more graphic deaths of the Jedi.
We watch the younglings being murdered in a fuzzy hologram but we were meant to have a full scene of Anakin hacking them to pieces. It's clear George Lucas wanted this massacre to be as violent as possible to emphasise Vader's descent into evil but it's obvious these scenes would have been too extreme.