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George Lucas’ originalStar Warstrilogy introduced fans to Darth Vader and the character continues to provide fascinating avenues for storytelling even today. However, Lucas chose to finally tell Vader’s complete origin story in theStar Warsprequels, focusing on a young Anakin Skywalker before he fell to the dark side of the Force.
However, Vader’s origin story did not turn out to be what fans were expecting from the epic space opera saga. During an interview, Lucas addressed what fans were demanding for Vader’s origins in the prequels and why he did not pay any heed to fan demand. Instead, Lucas crafted a different and more nuanced tale that ended up polarizing fans. Here is what George Lucas had to say about Vader’s origin story.
George Lucas Explains Why He Never Bought One Fan Demand For Darth Vader inStar WarsPrequels
George Lucaslaunched the prequels era of theStar Warsfranchise in 1999 withThe Phantom Menace. However, the filmreceived polarizing reactions from critics and fans alike. During an interview withWired, Lucas spoke about how the film did not play to the fan expectation at the time, which was to see Vader at the peak of his prowess.
People expected Episode III, which is where Anakin turns into Darth Vader, to be Episode I. And then they expected Episodes II and III to be Darth Vader going around cutting people’s heads off and terrorizing the universe.
Lucas made the above statement explaining what fans were expecting to see in the first installment of the prequel trilogy. He admitted that while such an approach had commercial potential, he wasn’t interested in it.
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Instead, Lucas wanted to explore the transformation of Anakin into Darth Vader, particularly the circumstances that led him to the dark side.
The idea is to see how a democracy becomes a dictatorship, and how a good person goes bad — and still, in the end, thinks he’s doing the right thing.
Lucas made the above comment explaining why the prequels, largely revolve around the political intrigue in the galaxy far, far away instead of Vader’s exploits during his early days. From Lucas’ words, it is evident that he never intended to play into fan demands and focused on fulfilling his creative sensibilities along with doing justice to the epic saga he had built.
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During the same conversation, Lucas also touched upon the good vs evil theme of theStar Warsfranchise and how Anakin’s transformation intoDarth Vaderfalls on that spectrum. Regarding the overall theme, Lucas stated that he went for a more classic definition of the good vs evil theme.
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Lucas added how Anakin represents the idea of power corrupting those in charge, thereby defying fan expectations. Contrary to popular belief, Anakin starts out as a normal child who eventually becomes corrupt with power and thinks that his actions can be justified.
But the point is, he wasn’t born that way — he became that way and thought he was doing the right thing. He eventually realizes he’s going down the dark path, but he thinks it’s justifiable.
Lucas made the above statement bybreaking down Anakin’s arc across the three films, which eventually culminated with him turning on the Jedi Order and joining the dark side. Thus, Lucas’ words about the thematic storytelling in the prequels further reinforce the idea that the acclaimed filmmaker isn’t one to bend his story to meet fan expectations.
TheStar Warsfilms and spin-off television shows are streaming on Disney+.
Pratik Handore
Content Writer
Articles Published :1772
With a keen interest in comic book movies and blockbuster franchises, Pratik usually covers news and updates on the DCU, MCU, Star Wars, and more.A die-hard fan of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, Pratik spends most of his time exploring different storytelling mediums that invoke a sense of wonder and adventure. Other filmmakers whose works have deeply influenced him include Alfred Hitchcock, James Gunn, and Guillermo del Toro.
