Star Wars Stunt Coordinator Claims George Lucas Cut Best Lightsaber Duel From the Franchise

The Star Wars franchise is known for epic space battles, intense skirmishes between ground forces, and lightsaber duels. In fact, that last one might be among the biggest draws to the movies, as each movie has continually built upon each climactic confrontation with epic lightsaber fights. And while many people are looking forward to see Rey and Kylo Ren square off one last time in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, we only just learned of another epic lightsaber fight that was cut from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith before the film ever premiered in theaters.

According to stunt coordinator Nick Gillard, there was another amazing sequence in the prequel trilogy that he oversaw. The lightsaber battles in the prequels are revered for their intense choreography, and now we know we’ve possibly missed out on another epic battle.

According to Gillard, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith nearly featured a fight between Obi-Wan Kenobi and General Grievous’ guards, making it a six-on-one battle that took weeks for Ewan McGregor to practice the choreography.

Gillard explained to Entertainment Weekly, “It was the most complicated fight we ever did, and George [Lucas] said, ‘I’m really sorry, I’m going to drop a container on five of them!’”

According to Gillard, McGregor required weeks to learn the intricate choreography, and they started running out of time while filming the project. In order to make up for it, director George Lucas decided that the fight scene was not essential to the film’s plot and found an elegant solution — have Obi-Wan crush the guards by using the Force.

Fans will get to see McGregor return to the role and possibly get another epic lightsaber battle in the process as Lucasfilm prepares to film an Obi-Wan Kenobi series for Disney+. McGregor recently opened up about his return to the Star Wars galaxy, offering new details about what to expect about the show’s storyline.

“The storyline sits between Episode III and Episode IV,” McGregor explained to Men’s Journal, adding that “the Jedi Order was falling apart. It will be interesting to take a character we know in a way and show him—Well, his arc will be quite interesting, I think, dealing with that the fact that all the Jedi were slaughtered with the end of Episode III. It’s quite something to get over.”

There’s no word yet when the Obi-Wan series will premiere on Disney+, but fans can look forward to the end of the main saga with the premiere of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on Friday, December 20th.