Star Wars 9: George Lucas' Original Plan Ended Luke's Saga Very Differently

Star Wars: Episode IX will end the Skywalker saga when it premieres this December, but how different could things have been if George Lucas' initial vision came to pass? When the original Star Wars movie broke box office records and received widespread critical praise, it became apparent Lucas would be able to move forward with his planned sequels. During his time with the franchise, the exact number of installments Lucas wanted fluctuated (some days it was nine, some days it was twelve), but Star Wars was always meant to be a multi-part series.

More than four decades after audiences were first introduced to the galaxy far, far away, they'll finally get to see the conclusion of the classic story that's defined the franchise from the very beginning. Obviously, a lot changed over the years, and the Episode IX J.J. Abrams made is quite a departure from what Lucas had in mind. In fact, if Lucas stayed on this course, even the original trilogy would have drastically changed.

George Lucas' Original Star Wars 7 & 8 Plans

During an appearance at the Sci-Fi Expo in Plano, TX in 1999 (via TheForce.net), producer Gary Kurtz (who worked alongside Lucas on the first two Star Wars movies) detailed what Lucas had in mind for the overall saga. The timeline for this predates 1980, so these are the earliest concepts Lucas was toying with. Unsurprisingly, Lucas' original sequel trilogy existed more as brief outlines rather than fully-formed ideas. The gist of it involved following Luke Skywalker's life as a Jedi Knight, though not much else is known beyond that. Obviously, this greatly deviates from the actual sequel trilogy, which revolved more around a new cast of characters and depicted Luke's last days as a bitter old man filled with regret. From the sound of things, Lucas was planning on showing audiences what a fully capable Luke could achieve.

Lucas' initial Episode VIII continued the story by introducing Luke's sister. This would be an entirely new character (not Leia) arriving from a different part of the galaxy. So even before the days of The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas was intrigued by the notion of expanding the Skywalker family to include another one of Anakin's offspring. Since this idea never made it past the developmental stages (Leia, famously, was reworked to be Luke's twin sibling), there isn't much information available that fleshes this mystery sibling out (i.e. her backstory, level of power, etc.), but this still would have been interesting to see. The Star Wars movies barely touched on Leia's Force abilities - with her flying scene in The Last Jedi being the most notable example. There was potential here for Luke to have an equal in Jedi abilities, perhaps pushing him past his perceived limits as he continued to grow. And, this would have set up an epic confrontation in the trilogy finale.

Luke Finally Faces (And Defeats) The Emperor

Before we get into Lucas' initial draft for Episode IX, we have to examine his original plan for the remainder of the classic trilogy. Per Kurtz, The Empire Strikes Back was more or less what we eventually got, with only minor sequences that had no real bearing on the plot cut. Return of the Jedi was a completely different animal. Among the key developments in Lucas' first Episode VI were Leia being elected "Queen of her people," Han Solo dying, and Luke living alone after battling Darth Vader. It goes without saying that a lot changed in the three years between Empire and Jedi, with Lucas restructuring the movie to serve as the finale of the trilogy with a more upbeat conclusion. He infamously clashed with Kurtz over the new direction of the film, which led to a falling out between the two.

If Lucas had stayed on his initial path, Episode IX would have marked the first physical appearance of the Emperor. Palpatine made his big screen debut via hologram in The Empire Strikes Back, but Lucas saved the ultimate reveal for the very end. In a way, this makes a lot of sense. The Emperor was always the big bad of Star Wars, so only his downfall could bring the story to its proper resolution. Again, details about what exactly Lucas had in mind are slim (particularly because things went in a drastically different way), but based on what we know, the story would likely involve Luke and his sister teaming up to take down the Emperor together. It wouldn't have been out of the question for one of the siblings to have been tempted by the dark side, adding some drama and intrigue to the proceedings.

Page 2: Luke & Leia In George Lucas' Episode 9

Luke Trained Leia In The Force

It should be noted that at various points in history, Lucas developed a number of varying concepts for a theoretical Star Wars sequel trilogy. Obviously, once Return of the Jedi came out, his original plan could no longer happen. Han Solo was very much alive, Darth Vader and the Emperor had been defeated, and Leia was revealed to be Luke's sister. So, Lucas had to come up with something new. He actually spent quite a bit of time working on outlines for Episode VII - IX prior to Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, but Kathleen Kennedy scrapped those ideas in favor of what we got. While fans will never get to see Lucas' sequel trilogy, some of the story beats he was planning have been revealed.

Mark Hamill stated that in Lucas' outlines, Luke trained Leia in the ways of the Force. He never got into greater specifics of what that might have entailed, but it would have been fascinating to see the twins work together in that capacity. Official Star Wars canon has indicated Leia received minor lessons from Luke in regards to her Force abilities, but she never became a full-fledged Jedi Knight. Leia's areas of concentration were always politics and leadership. Especially with the rise of the First Order, she didn't have the time to completely dedicate herself to Luke's teachings. If Lucas' ideas remained intact, it sounds like Leia would have followed her brother's footsteps and helped establish a new Order. Given the tease in Return of the Jedi (Luke saying, "In time, you'll learn to use it [the Force] as I have."), this would have been a natural continuation for Leia's individual story and allowed her to reach her full potential as Force user. As it stands, fans were only treated to snippets, and that's the most that'll ever be seen onscreen.

Luke Died In Lucas' Episode 9

Luke Skywalker vs Kylo Ren in Star Wars The Last Jedi

After bidding farewell to Han Solo in The Force Awakens, Star Wars fans had to say goodbye to another original trilogy hero in The Last Jedi. At the end of the film, Luke sacrifices himself so the surviving members of the Resistance can escape, igniting a spark of hope throughout the galaxy. It was an epic and fitting sendoff for Skywalker, but per Lucas' original drafts, his death wasn't supposed to happen until the final movie, after he trained Leia. This was another revelation from Hamill, who again did not share much beyond the fact Luke was initially going to die in Episode IX.

It's an idea Hamill was fond of, since he lobbied to Last Jedi director Rian Johnson to save Luke's noble death for Episode IX. Of course, he eventually came around and realized that Last Jedi was a better movie with the ending Johnson had constructed. One can't blame Hamill for his original feelings, however. After all, Luke was the protagonist of the original trilogy and the entire franchise started with his journey. It would have been poetic if he had stayed around to the very end and bowed out gracefully in a heroic gesture to save the galaxy once and for all. Hamill will reprise Luke in the actual Episode IX, but in all likelihood it will be a minor role as a Force ghost to share some important wisdom with Rey. His story is now complete.

As one might expect for a movie that's been in development for close to 40 years, Episode IX has gone through several iterations before it finally hits the big screen this December. Even Disney's version underwent substantial changes; Lucasfilm started over from scratch following Carrie Fisher's death and replaced Colin Trevorrow as director with Abrams. It's always interesting to read about how different these films could have been and compare it to what we actually got. Hopefully, Abrams and company were able to come up with a fitting final chapter and Episode IX gives fans reason to celebrate.