Padme Almost Killed Anakin In Revenge Of The Sith’s Original Ending

The Star Wars prequels were pretty divisive among even the most die hard fans when they were first […]

September 5, 2017, 5:18pm

The Star Wars prequels were pretty divisive among even the most die hard fans when they were first released in theaters, but the tide has begun to shift all these years later. Many people are beginning to embrace them, as evidenced by the reception of Hayden Christensen at this past Star Wars Celebration in Orlando.

Videos by ComicBook.com

But even though fans are starting to accept them more and more, there are still many elements in those three movies that can elicit a facepalm or two. One of the more infamous moments occurs when Anakin Skywalker kills Padmé Amidala at the end of Revenge of the Sith.

Star Wars concept artist and character designer Iain McCaig recently revealed that the original plan for that scene was much different, and that Padmé was going to attempt to end the threat of Anakin’s evil before he could go any further down the path toward becoming Darth Vader.

While speaking at an event for the Academy of Art University in October 2016, McCaig revealed the original plan had Padmé conspiring with the Separatists to kickstart what would become the Rebellion. This, of course, would lead to her eventual demise but not before she had an even more heartbreaking moment than what actually occurred. The story comes near the 28:00 mark in the video.

McCaig said:

[Anakin] leaves. Moments later, in come the Separatists and right behind his back, [Padme] is starting the Rebellion to overthrow him. Because Padme can see the he is becoming a monster. At the end, on Mustafar, when she goes to see [Anakin], she has a knife in her hands. She gets off the ship with the knife, she runs up and throws her arms around him, and he lets her. She’s got the knife to the back of [Anakin’s] neck and she’s going to kill him. [Again], he lets her. But she can’t do it. She loves him too much to stop him, even when he becomes the monster.

Why would George Lucas change this wonderful moment? Padmé’s actual death is no where near as good as this moment, which was even hinted at in some concept art from the film’s art book.

That particular film caused a bunch of different fan theories regarding what actually took place on the screen, whether Palpatine actually killed her and even if Palpatine could “create life” with the Skywalker twins a la Darth Plagius.

Regardless, it seems like that film took the worst possible route considering the possibilities.