Star Wars: 20 Things You Didn't Know About Return Of The Jedi
Everything you never knew about the most anticipated movie threequel of all time.
Ending any popular movie trilogy is no easy feat, but when it comes to the original three Star Wars movies, the pressure must've been unimaginable.
George Lucas' mammoth blockbuster IP was tasked with tying off an epic narrative in a satisfying way while also saying farewell to audiences who had come to love these characters.
The general consensus among fans and critics alike is that Return of the Jedi is a solid threequel albeit the weakest of the three by far, a more commercially-minded and aggressively happy conclusion to the trilogy, yet also one which delivers some of the most iconic scenes in the entire franchise.
Unsurprisingly, as is the case with most Star Wars movies, the production was far from smooth, with director Richard Marquand and his cast and crew struggling to deliver a satisfactory end product on time.
They got it done, but only through tremendous adversity and with a treasure trove of fascinating anecdotes and tidbits for fans to fixate on. Having poured over Return of the Jedi's most fascinating production trivia, these are the 20 factoids you absolutely need to know...
20. It Was Almost Called "Revenge Of The Jedi"
During the scripting stage, co-writer Lawrence Kasdan claims he told George Lucas that his original title, Return of the Jedi, was "weak," prompting Lucas to change it to "Revenge of the Jedi."
This decision held firm enough that it was included in the original teaser trailer, until five months before the film's release when Lucas had a change of heart, feeling that the word "revenge" wasn't appropriate to apply to a Jedi.
Lucas did this at considerable expense, as thousands of teaser posters had already been printed, and to offset costs he ended up selling the remaining stock to Star Wars fan club members.
Amusingly Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was originally going to be called "Star Trek II: The Vengeance of Khan," but changed its title for fear of audiences confusing the two franchises, only for Lucas to ditch the word a few months after Wrath of Khan hit cinemas.
Lucas finally found an appropriate place for it in the prequel trilogy, though, with Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.