APPARENTLY ANAKIN HAS HAD ENOUGH TANTRUMS THAT HE IMMEDIATELY KNOWS “TAKE A SEAT, YOUNG SKYWALKER” MEANS “GO TO YOUR DESK AND COLOR OUT YOUR FEELINGS UNTIL YOU CALM DOWN” (BECAUSE HE IMMEDIATELY DOES IT AND IS COLORING THE ENTIRE MEETING) AND LEGO STAR WARS IS THE ONLY STAR WARS I WILL ACCEPT ANYMORE
“I wish I could tell you,” Christensen tells EW with a coy smile on his face [if we see him without the mask]. “I’m sworn to secrecy.”
As for the kind of Dark Lord we’ll see in the series that helps fill in the gap of time between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, Christensen is more straightforward: “We’re going to see a very powerful Vader,” promises the actor.
While it sounds like there is a chance we may see Vader unmasked, how much Vader in general will we actually see on the show?
“His shadow is cast across so much of what we do,” series writer Joby Harold teases. “And the degree of his proximity to that shadow is something that we’ll discover. But he is very much a part of the show emotionally for Obi-Wan, and possibly beyond that as well.” (x)
These two quotes fill me with so much excitement and hope, like it seems as if the writer Joby Harold understands the role that Vader will play, and the idea of seeing a powerful Vader is just 🙌
“Steven [Spielberg] saw the rough cut,” Lucas says, sitting at home at a table in his kitchen. “I felt I needed to show it to Steven to figure out what the reality was, because we’d earlier had a rough-cut screening for ILM to test the film, and some of the people had strong opinions about things that were contrary to the way I was going. Some people were having a hard time with the reason that Anakin goes bad. Somebody asked whether somebody could kill Anakin’s best friend, so that he really gets angry. They wanted a real betrayal, such as, ‘You tried to kill me so now I’m going to try and kill you.’ They didn’t understand the fact that Anakin is simply greedy. There is no revenge. The revenge of the Sith is Palpatine. It doesn’t have much to do with Darth Vader; he’s a pawn in the whole scheme.
So I had to ask myself, What was I trying to say and didn’t I say it? Did it just get missed or is it not there? I had to look at it very hard. I had to ask myself, Is this how the audience is going to react? Fortunately, Steven confirmed that most of everything was working. So, I may lose a certain demographic—maybe, maybe not. But I had to make a decision, and I decided that I’m not going to alter the film to make it more commercial or marketable. I have to be true to my vision, which is thirty years old, but I have to be true to it.”
I respect this about Lucas: he made the films he wanted to make, with the story he wanted to tell. It was his vision that Anakin fell through greed, and he saw it through to the end. He made that decision knowing that it would be unsatisfying to a certain demographic, and that they might reject it. It makes RotS all the better for it, the prequels better for it.
He actually had something to say, and stuck to it, even if it wasn’t what would have been expected or sensational or what a studio like Disney would have pressured him to do. That certain demographic rejected the message both then and now, but their dissatisfaction and discomfort with the told story doesn’t make their alternate readings and headcanons accurate—it was always about Anakin’s greed.
“It is the dark that seeds cruelty into justice, that drips contempt into compassion, that poisons love with grains of doubt… Eventually, even stars burn out.” ~ “Star Wars, Episode III. Revenge of the Sith.” Revenge of the Sith, by Matthew Stover and George Lucas, Del Rey Books, 2005, p. 147.
~********~
This was actually from a while ago, but this time in a GIF format!
George Lucas on Anakin’s deal with Palpatine: “Anakin got sold a bill of goods because he wanted it so bad that he’d believe anything anybody would sell him”
GEORGE LUCAS: Anakin wants to have a family. He wants to be married to Padmé and have children. When he sees in his dreams that Padmé is going to die, he doesn’t know how, but it’s preordained. He’s in love with her. He doesn’t want her to die. He wants to possess her, to control that. He keeps getting himself deeper and deeper into this pickle. He wants a family but at the same time he knows he can’t have one. Now the greed has taken over and the fear of losing his wife and baby. The whole point is you can’t possess somebody because they are their own person. You can’t dominate and make them do everything you want them to do.
PAUL DUNCAN: He had dreams about his mother as well, and he could not save her.
GEORGE LUCAS: Right. He’s walking into a death trap. And there’s no way out.
PAUL DUNCAN: Palpatine has been grooming him by saying how powerful he is.
GEORGE LUCAS: And also saying that ‘My mentor told me that there was a way that could stop death.’ Which was a lie. They can’t. Anakin got sold a bill of goods because he wanted it so bad that he’d believe anything anybody would sell him.
PAUL DUNCAN: Palpatine’s a snake oil salesman.
GEORGE LUCAS: It’s a scam. Anakin’s made a pact with the Devil: “I want the power to save somebody from death. I want to be able to stop them from going to the river Says, and I need to go to a god for that, but the gods won’t do it, so I’m going to go down to Hades and get the dark lord to allow me to have this power that will allow me to save the person I want to hang on to.” Ultimately, it’s about power. He traded his soul for power. It’s Faust. The more power he wants, the more power he gets, the more he loses. The Devil says, “You can become more powerful but you mustt pass this first test. The first test is you must kill your mother. The second test: you have to kill your wife. And the third test: you have to kill your best friend.” In the end you have all this power but you have nobody to share with, expect some wizened old man who’s even more evil than you are. If you’re going to sell your soul to save somebody you love, that’s, as we say in the film, unnatural. You have to accept the natural course of life. Death is obviously the biggest of them all. Not only death for yourself but death for the things you care about.
Hayden Christensen is staying in the fold of the Galactic Empire.
The actor will reprise his role of Anakin Skywalker, aka Darth Vader, in Ahsoka, the latest Star Wars live-action series from Lucasfilm and Disney+, multiple sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.
HOLY SHIT, if The Hollywood Reporter is saying it, then I’m inclined to trust it, they have a pretty good track record, OH MY GOD. Disney has not confirmed anything yet, but it’s not super surprising after they got him back for Obi-Wan Kenobi, but now the question is CLONE WARS FLASHBACKS?? FORCE GHOSTS??? WILL THEY DE-AGE OBI-WAN AS A FORCE GHOST AND GET EWAN TO PLAY HIM?? DISNEY, WHY CAN’T YOU JUST TELL US NOW???
“But I won’t be a pawn in your political game. The Jedi are my family.”
😭 😭 😭 😭
Ohohoh! The great part about this one (actually about all the comic) is that this dialogue comes straight from one of Lucas’ drafts of the script! Those are George’s words.
We still get that line in the final draft :D
I always love any iteration of this scene, because – even when he’s sleep-deprived and stressed as hell – Anakin’s first reaction upon discovering the Sith Lord’s identity is:
“My name is Inigo Montoya Anakin Skywalker, you killed my friends/family, prepare to die!”
Like, almost all the good will that Palpatine had been trying to build up from those 13 years of manipulating Anakin is gone out the window, it was pointless. Anakin is a Jedi through and through.
And the only thing that stops him in his tracks is Sidious using Padmé as an emotional shield against Anakin, and making him think he has to choose between her and the Jedi.
A little Anakin to Vader transition gif (hopefully it isn’t too blurry)! Started out with a sketch of Anakin looking up and crying, and then I decided to make a Vader version too.
Was hit with some Anakin feels this past weekend, hence this piece, haha. Never enough tears…
ALT
