Decades back, at the hands of George Lucas, Star Wars sprung to life. Featuring the saga of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia’s quest to overthrow the tyrant galactic empire, the original trilogy that began in 1977, finally culminated with 1983’s Return of the Jedi.
Laced with moments that have now become the staple of modern pop culture, the flick’s impact could have taken an even more resounding form had the runtime allowed for more scenes and prevented them from deletion.
One such scene that lay discarded on the cutting room floors established a connection between Mark Hamill’s character and that of his father-turned-Sith lord. Unlike other moments that dragged on the runtime by only adding humor or dramatic value, this one scene had a fair deal of importance to the canon as well as to the character development arc of Skywalker and Darth Vader’s hope to turn him towards his side of the Force.
The discarded Luke Skywalker scene that bound him to Darth Vader
The Empire Strikes Back had Luke Skywalker hear the iconic “I am your father” line from Darth Vader. The Return of the Jedi picked up this moment of confused parentage and dialed it up a notch. While the shocking truth of fatherhood is finally confirmed and sealed in this movie, its deliverance would have come across as even more befitting had a deleted scene featuring Mark Hamill’s character building his lightsaber been kept in the original draft.
Luke Skywalker constructs his new lightsaber on Tatooine in a ‘Return of the Jedi’ deleted scene
The final pieces he needed were found in Obi-Wan Kenobi's hut pic.twitter.com/QSmOpLpggl
— Star Wars Facts (@sw_tweets) June 20, 2024
The sequence, as detailed by the official website of the franchise, involved the young Jedi alongside his trusted astromech, R2-D2, in Obi-Wan Kenobi’s hut in Tatooine putting the finishing touches to a new lightsaber after losing his father’s blue-bladed one in the previous movie, while C-3PO stood guard outside.
The Sith Lord made a call to his son from his meditation chamber and via the force. Moreover, Skywalker also heard the message but disregarded it as a ruse by the former to pull him over to the dark side. Thus, that moment, when the green saber lit up, signified a pivotal clash of ideologies between a father and a son, making way for a cinematic masterpiece, that never made its way to the big screen but can still be found on Disney+.
Return of the Jedi also scrapped several other scenes of Darth Vader
An alleged scene that would have earned the original Star Wars a backlash similar to today’s Disney outings, involved the belittling of Darth Vader. Moff Jerjerrod, the Commander of Death Star II, tried to stop and slow down the vengeful Sith Lord from moving in and speaking directly to Emperor Palpatine (via CBR). The former then attempts to force choke the officer as well as two royal guards standing at the door, only to realize that it was actually his master’s command that they were obeying.
Taken aback by it, he lets go of Jerjerrod and the guards, following which the officer dons a smug look at him. The moment not only showcased the plight of helplessness that Darth Vader faced at that moment but also exposed a vulnerability of his. The sequence, if aired, would have massively angered fans of the iconic villain and hence, was better left cut.
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi is available to stream on Disney+.
