A couple from Star Wars almost experienced a tragic end. It would have made one of the two characters in the movies much more exciting. However, George Lucas ultimately decided against it.
Attention Spoiler: We reveal the ending of Star Wars Episode III.
Which couple are we talking about? Anakin and Padmé are the main couple in the Star Wars prequels. They meet as children and fall in love as young adults.
In Episode 3, Anakin increasingly succumbs to the dark side of the Force. He allows Chancellor Palpatine to use him and becomes mentally more distant from Padmé. How the movie ranks in the Star Wars rankings can be found on MeinMMO.
During the big finale on the lava planet Mustafar, Padmé tries to talk to Anakin and appeal to the good in him. However, he does not believe her and even tries to punish her for her supposed betrayal. Even a Jedi could have stopped Anakin.
In the end, the story has a sad outcome. Anakin becomes Darth Vader and Padmé dies during the birth of their children Luke and Leia.
Originally, the confrontation on Mustafar was supposed to proceed differently. The alternative ending would have given the character even more significance.
A knife could have made the difference
What did the alternative ending look like? Iain McCaig was a concept artist for Episode 3 and told at a lecture in 2016 how George Lucas wanted to change the character Padmé (via digitalspy.com).
According to him, she would not have been so blinded by her love. Padmé would have realized that she needed to take matters into her own hands and stop Anakin. Simple words would not have been enough, and instead, she would have set out to Mustafar with a knife in her pocket.
Her plan was to kill Anakin on the spot and thereby thwart his and Palpatine’s plans. Specifically, Padmé wanted to hug her beloved and then stab him. This way, Darth Vader would never have existed, and the events of the later episodes would have unfolded quite differently.
All good in the Galactic Republic then? No, because George Lucas knew, of course, that he could not have Anakin killed. That would have rendered the already existing episodes 4 to 6 meaningless in retrospect.
Therefore, he comes up with a twist: before Padmé strikes, all the happy moments of the two would appear before her mind’s eye at the very last moment. She would not have been able to bring herself to kill Anakin.
Thus, the actual outcome of the story would not have changed. However, the fact remains that Padmé would have had the power to change Star Wars sustainably. That is an interesting thought and adds even more substance to the character.
Compared to the final ending in the film, Padmé appears bolder and more combative in the alternative version – whether she would have struck or not. Why George Lucas decided against showing this facet of the character is written among the stars in a galaxy far, far away. Padmé’s actress had a hard time after the shoot: Natalie Portman talks about how it was to receive the anger of “Star Wars” fans as an 18-year-old
