The Making of Star Wars Return of the Jedi reveals a ton of stuff about the movie and original script. In today’s video, let’s go over the fake script that was put out there when the film wasn’t released yet. George Lucas instated this fake script to avoid spoilers in the audience, which of course, was way easier to avoid back then, than today. In this fake script, we get Luke Skywalker defeating Palpatine, throwing the Emperor over the railing as Vader did. We also see a different Vader when Luke unmasks him. A much more non-human Anakin Skywalker.

This fake script is the most official fan-fiction we could get for the ending of Return of the Jedi. If Luke killed the Emperor, it wouldn’t have closed the circle for Anakin’s fulfillment of the prophecy. Anakin HAD to kill the Emperor. It was Anakin’s redemption that made the story come full circle, and I’m so happy it went the way it did.