George Lucas Cut The Biggest Lightsaber Battle In Star Wars

Think you've seen all the best lightsaber battles in the galaxy far, far away? Well, think again. The glowing, lightly humming blade has been the staple weapon of the Star Wars franchise since its inception in the late 1970s. But somehow, despite all the lightsaber fights that fans of the films have seen over the years, there's one that still hasn't been shared with the world. And it's apparently the best one ever.

Nick Gillard, the stunt coordinator for the Star Wars prequel trilogy, recently revealed to Entertainment Weekly that he had mapped out a lightsaber battle so incredible, it would have trumped the one between Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace. He explained that the lightsaber fight that took place on Utapau in Revenge of the Sith, during which Obi-Wan battles against General Grievous and his bodyguards, looked a little different in the original version of the film.

Before ridding the galaxy of General Grievous, Obi-Wan first needs to dispense of his bodyguards. The theatrical cut of Revenge of the Sith sees the Jedi Master using the Force to pull a piece of the ceiling down on five of the six bodyguards Grievous sets on him. However, the original version of that scene would have featured an elaborate battle royale.

Unfortunately, when it came down to it, the production was so far behind on filming that they couldn't afford the amount of time the sequence was going to take to shoot. Lucas had to make a difficult decision. Given that the lightsaber battle wasn't integral to the narrative, he decided to drastically cut down on the scene's filming time by simplifying the scene. With Grievous' bodyguards fighting with their electro-staffs and Obi-Wan wielding his signature lightsaber, the scene promises at the outset to be an electrified battle. The final version does see Obi-Wan brace himself for a kind of all-or-nothing fight, but it falls a bit flat when he disposes of them so unceremoniously. One of the bodyguards survives Obi-Wan's trickery, leaving the Jedi master to quickly behead him in what we can only assume is a highly watered-down version of the original battle. If the sequence played out like Gillard had intended it to, it would have been infinitely cooler.

Despite sounding like the most epic lightsaber battle of the Star Wars canon thus far, fans have never seen it. Sadly for them, it likely doesn't exist in a cinematic capacity, given that Gillard seems to be implying that the scene never even made it to the front of the camera. Still, as disappointing as Gillard's revelation may be, Revenge of the Sith is full of some awesome lightsaber battles that many of the other Star Wars films lack.

Even if they didn't get a brawl with Obi-Wan, the bodyguards get some action at the beginning of Revenge of the Sith when Anakin and Obi-Wan infiltrate Grievous' spaceship to rescue Palpatine from Count Dooku. They even seem far more impressive than their later defeat would seem to imply as they manage to hold off Anakin and Obi-Wan long enough for Grievous to make a dramatic exit. That set piece also featured an impressive battle between Anakin and the sith lord Count Dooku. Obi-Wan later fights Grievous and finally gets rid of him, Mace Windu battles against Palpatine, and even Yoda has his own action-packed faceoff against Palpatine in the senate. Plus, fans are treated to a brutally emotional stand-off between Obi-Wan and Anakin on Mustafar after he discovers his former Padawan has gone to the dark side. Though George Lucas may have cut the best lightsaber fight in all of Star Wars history from Revenge of the Sith, he definitely didn't skimp on Jedi action.

Whether or not the upcoming Star Wars flick The Rise of Skywalker will provide fans with a lightsaber battle to fill the void of the missing scene from Revenge of the Sith is yet to be seen. Still, based on the high-flying lightsaber battles of The Last Jedi and The Force Awakens, we're not worried.

#StarWars #GeorgeLucas #RiseOfSkywalker