Fairly or unfairly, George Lucas has a reputation among Star Wars fans (and Han Shot First truthers) for tinkering with things in a galaxy far, far away. One Star Wars crew member who worked alongside Lucas has revealed that he had to cut a lightsaber battle in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith that may have ranked up there as one of the best in the series.
Stunt coordinator Nick Gillard was asked by EW about the iconic Darth Maul scene from the final act of The Phantom Menace. Duel of the Fates. Qui-Gon being cut down. The shielding. Obi-Wan’s final leap. It often stands out for many as the high-point of the prequel trilogy. Gillard, though, says there was a “better one” that we never got to see.
Remember Obi-Wan taking on six of General Grievous’ bodyguards near the beginning of the movie? In the finished version, the Jedi Master simply Force pulls an extremely large container, squashing all but one of the staff-wielding heavies. The original plan was to have Obi-Wan fight all six of them.
McGregor supposedly trained for weeks learning the choreography for the fight, but it was all for naught. As Gillard states, it had to be cut due to production schedule: “It was the most complicated fight we ever did, and George said, ‘I’m really sorry, I’m going to drop a container on five of them!’”
So, this one wasn’t down to Lucas’ penchant for pulling apart some of his most beloved stories and characters. But still, we missed out on what could’ve made Revenge of the Sith more memorable. I’ll bet he would’ve taken the higher ground here too.
