Star Wars
Star Wars: George Lucas “killed” the original Darth Vader as revenge
This is how the biggest plot twist in the history of cinema made its way to Star Wars.
When the Internet was still science fiction, the film industry was already suffering leaks from within film sets. One of them corresponds to the most famous plot twist in cinema, Darth Vader’s “I am your father” to a young Mark Hamill in the role of Luke Skywalker during Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. But as it seems, George Lucas stars in one of the most notorious acts of revenge of his time.
This is how George Lucas’ revenge against the original Darth Vader actor in Star Wars was forged
With the perspective of time, some changes that were not so important at the time gain relevance. This is the case of the legendary scene from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, where Darth Vader shows his face for the first time. The actor behind the burnt Sith was Sebastian Shaw, a detail that did not go unnoticed by fans, since during the original trilogy David Prowse was in charge of wearing the dark suit.
The change was the way in which George Lucas exacted his revenge on Prowse. The tension between the two began with the Star Wars promotional campaign back in 1978. During that year Prowse visited the city of Berkeley to meet with several fans of the franchise and talk about the next installment. It was in that group when the actor said the following phrase: ”Father can’t kill son, son can’t kill father. So they live again to star in Star Wars IV.” The phrase was picked up by a local media outlet, the San Francisco Examiner, as noted Collider.
The statements appeared in July 1978, but Lucas did not have the script finalized until August of the same year. That information covers Prowse’s back a bit, but you never know what they were talking about in the hallways on the set. What’s more, the famous line “I am your father” was only known to Mark Hamill on set. Prowse may have just been getting his imagination started on some stories he had heard, but the truth is that it didn’t sit well with Lucas when he let the four winds know which direction the story arc would point.. The rest is history.