Many of the original “Star Wars” sketches and ideas were leaked in later films. The name Starkiller was eventually applied to Starkiller Base in “The Force Awakens.” One can even see the similarities in the small details. For example, the original title of “Return of the Jedi” was “Jedi’s Revenge.” That title was somewhat re-titled in the mid-2000s for “Star Wars: Part III – Revenge of the Sith.”
There doesn’t seem to be any reason for Luke to be male, so this change remains unexplained. Maybe George Lucas just wanted Luke to look like him when he was younger. Perhaps he wanted to give his main character a romantic interest, and felt that a new character – a princess in distress – was a better fit for his story; when Luke is female still not there Princess Leia in the script. Whatever the reason, Annakin Starkiller became a man, and was eventually transformed into the Luke Skywalker we know today.
Other sketches from the same unexplored repository show some other notable changes. For example, Darth Vader’s helmet once revealed his eyes. The gas mask on his face was also elongated, perhaps to resemble a gas mask more.
An early storyboard also shows Obi-Wan Kenobi, the “old sage” character played by Sir Alec Guinness, originally supposed to survive his lightsaber confrontation with Darth Vader is the villain. It looks like he’ll re-enter the action and continue to give Luke advice for the rest of the movie. One could argue whether this makes “Star Wars” better or worse.
With tinkering done in the mid ’70s, it seems like we could have any number of “Star Wars” movies. Let’s hope we have the best.
