George Lucas Revealed Five ‘Star Wars’ Scenes He Hated

George Lucas once shared his thoughts on some moments in the Star Wars franchise that he was never fully happy with, even though fans loved them.

One scene Lucas wasn’t pleased with was the reveal of Darth Vader’s face in Return of the Jedi. At the end of the film, Anakin Skywalker’s face is shown under the mask, humanizing the villain.

However, Lucas didn’t like how bushy actor Sebastian Shaw’s eyebrows looked, saying they didn’t fit the story of Vader being badly burned. He later shaved the eyebrows for the 2004 DVD edition to fix the issue.

Another moment Lucas regretted was Jabba the Hutt’s introduction in A New Hope. The character was originally played by Declan Mulholland in a large fur coat because the budget didn’t allow for a proper Jabba puppet. Lucas was unhappy with how it looked and cut the scene from the film. Later, in the 1997 Special Edition, a CGI version of Jabba was created, which was further updated in 2004.

Lucas also had second thoughts about the celebration scene at the end of Return of the Jedi. The Ewoks’ song ‘Yub-nub’ was meant to mark the victory over the Empire, but Lucas later replaced it with John Williams’ ‘Victory Celebration’ for the 1997 re-release, adding shots of celebrations on other planets such as Coruscant, Naboo, and Tatooine.

Even outside the movies, Lucas had concerns. In the video game The Force Unleashed, the antihero Starkiller destroys a Star Destroyer using the Force. Lucas felt this was too over-the-top and made sure the game was kept separate from the official movie canon.

Finally, Lucas had issues with Disney’s The Force Awakens. After selling the Star Wars franchise to Disney in 2012, he was shown the 2015 sequel before its release. As noted in the book The Ride of a Lifetime by former Disney CEO Bob Iger, Lucas told LucasFilm President Kathleen Kennedy, “there’s nothing new”, expressing frustration that the film reused story beats and character types from the original 1977 movie.

Even the creator of Star Wars, who helped bring the galaxy far, far away to life, wasn’t afraid to admit when he thought something didn’t live up to his vision. In my opinion, it’s interesting to see that even iconic films can have moments that their creators wish were different. What do you think about Lucas’ dislikes? Share your thoughts in the comments.