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From Anakin's Force Ghost to Darth Maul's surprise return, we're exploring the 10 biggest retroactive continuity changes that have shaped and sometimes confused the Star Wars galaxy.
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00:00So with the franchise as expansive and long-running as Star Wars, it was inevitable that its lore would
00:05become increasingly muddled as time went on, and that contradictory information is a common sight
00:11in pop culture's favourite galaxy. As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are the 10
00:16biggest Star Wars retcons. 10. Anakin's Younger Force Ghost
00:22Now, the numerous changes that George Lucas has made to his original trilogy over the years have
00:27been met with a controversial reception by many Star Wars fans, and though a bunch of them are
00:32fairly minor and inconsequential, like Darth Vader getting his eyebrows shaved off, others are a lot
00:37more questionable. Speaking of Vader's eyebrows, Return of the Jedi's original ending saw the owner
00:43of those bushy decorations, Sebastian Shaw, appear before Luke as a Force ghost, a great moment that
00:48really solidified Vader's redemption. However, in the 2004 DVD release of the original trilogy,
00:54Lucas decided to swap out the old Anakin for his younger counterpart, replacing Shaw's sweet smile
01:00with Hayden Christensen's rather creepy stare, in a change that is not only a huge visual retcon,
01:05but seemingly contradicts everything we've learned about Force ghosts throughout the franchise.
01:10Force ghosts in other movies, like Luke in The Rise of Skywalker, Yoda in The Last Jedi,
01:14Obi-Wan in The Empire Strikes Back, look like the characters at the time of their deaths.
01:19So for Anakin to de-age a couple of decades felt like nothing more than a cheap way to hype
01:23Revenge
01:24of the Sith up, which was due in cinemas less than a year after the DVD's release.
01:29Number 9. The Age of the Republic
01:31Now this one may not be as noticeable as other entries on our list, but it's still a fairly big
01:36retcon that confuses the history of the Old Republic. In A New Hope, Alec Guinness's
01:41grizzled Ben Kenobi says that the Old Republic existed for over a thousand generations,
01:46which was interpreted by various Expanded Universe sources as meaning roughly 25,000 years.
01:52However, skip ahead to the release of Attack of the Clones, and here Palpatine mentions that
01:57the Republic has stood for over a thousand years, which, as you can tell, is pretty far
02:01removed from the 25,000 years suggested by Kenobi's line.
02:05While the Expanded Universe is no longer canon, the question of which version of events is true
02:10has been hotly debated by Star Wars fans. 2020's The Star Wars book did clear the air somewhat
02:16by claiming that the Old Republic was founded over 25,000 years prior to A New Hope, but
02:21that only made Palpatine's Attack of the Clones retcon even more of a head-scratcher.
02:27Number 8. Darth Maul's Resurrection
02:29Now, as you might expect, not all retcons are bad. Some can actually shed new light on prior
02:34events, take a story in a more interesting direction, or, as is the case of Darth Maul's
02:38unlikely return to the land of the living, give fans far more time with a character that they loved.
02:43When George Lucas was crafting his grand return to the Star Wars universe in 1999's The Phantom
02:48Menace, this devilish character was intended to be killed off for good, something Lucas made very
02:53clear with the image of Maul's bisected body falling down one of those ridiculously long Star
02:58Wars shafts. However, after developing Maul's brother, Savage Oppressed, through the Clone Wars
03:03animated series, Lucas became much more interested in Maul, and, feeling that he was rather underutilized
03:08in his sole movie appearance, decided to resurrect him. Series lead Dave Filoni responded to this idea
03:14by saying, it's over, he's cut in half, how does that work? Only for Lucas to bluntly reply,
03:19I don't know, figure it out. Retconning Maul's death made him even more of a fan-favorite than
03:24he already was, and with the villain even returning to the big screen in 2018's Solo, there's always a
03:29chance that he might appear in another Star Wars project down the line.
03:347. Leia's Memory of Her Mother
03:36Now, the prequels retroactively caused several problems with the original trilogy, with certain
03:41bits of information, like the fact that R2-D2 can apparently fly as a scene in Attack of the Clones,
03:46which works against the events of Lucas' first three movies. And one of the most confusing of
03:50these revolves around Princess Leia's connection to her mother, Padme Amidala. In The Return of the
03:55Jedi, Leia tells Luke that she remembers her real mother, proceeding to describe her as beautiful
04:00and kind but sad, implying that she'd spent at least a little bit of time with her.
04:04However, in Revenge of the Sith, Padme dies immediately after giving birth, so how could
04:09Leia have spent any time with her at all? Though plenty of explanations for this have
04:12been bandied around for years, such as Leia's force ability allowing her to sense Padme,
04:17the fact of the matter is that George Lucas didn't know Leia's mother was going to die in
04:21childbirth while writing Return of the Jedi, making Padme's untimely end a retcon of Leia's memories.
04:286. The Origin of the Death Star's Weakness
04:31The fact that the Rebel Alliance was able to discover and exploit the Death Star's weakness
04:36in A New Hope always felt a little improbable, as did the fact that the Empire's planet-killing
04:41battle station had such a catastrophic defect in the first place. It obviously wasn't a plot hole
04:45or anything like that, but it just felt a wee bit too convenient. Not that the Rebels would care
04:50with Luke's precisely aimed proton torpedoes granting them an unprecedented victory over a much stronger
04:55enemy. But in 2016's Rogue One, A Star Wars Story, this particular plot point received a
05:01most welcome retcon, with the revelation that the Death Star's weakness wasn't as random as it
05:05seemed and had actually been put there by its architect. Is this what George Lucas had planned
05:10all the way back in 1977? Certainly not. But as with Maul's resurrection, this is another example
05:16of a good retcon, since the idea of the weakness being planted by Mads Mikkelsen's conflicted engineer
05:21is a way more compelling one than it being just an unintentional design flaw.
05:265. Somehow, Palpatine Returned
05:30Now, though The Last Jedi left audiences divided over the direction of Disney's Star Wars sequels,
05:35the revelation that Emperor Palpatine was set to return for The Rise of Skywalker was exciting
05:39for fans of all ages. But unfortunately, though, the explanation for how Palp survived his death
05:44in Return of the Jedi was lazy at best, with Poe Dameron's line of,
05:48somehow Palpatine returned, serving as the movie's only attempt to fill in the blanks.
05:53Clearly, the writers found it difficult to come up with a decent explanation, and that's probably
05:57because Palpatine was never intended to return from the grave, despite what Kathleen Kennedy might
06:02tell you. George Lucas actually shot down the idea of a Palpatine return whilst making Episode 6,
06:08bluntly telling the actor, no, he's dead. In addition, Colin Trevorrow, who was originally attached
06:13to direct The Rise of Skywalker, has said that bringing back Palpatine was something I never
06:18considered, meaning that the Sith Lord's comeback wasn't added until the new team decided to board
06:22the project in 2017. Retconning Palpatine's death then forced The Rise of Skywalker to
06:28retcon Snoke's entire character. In the first two movies, he was clearly meant to be someone new
06:32with a mysterious agenda of his own, not just a puppet that was grown in a jar.
06:384. Luke and Leia Are Siblings
06:40With the hindsight of Episodes 6-9, it's always a little odd to go back and watch that infamous
06:45kiss between Luke and Leia in Episode 5, as well as their quick little peck before swinging over
06:50that shaft in Episode 4. With the pair being revealed as siblings in the final chapter of
06:55the original trilogy, it's a tad uncomfortable to see them playing tonsil tennis in the first two
06:59movies. But, to be fair to everyone involved, that familial bond was not on the cards when A New
07:05Hope and The Empire Strikes Back were being written. In 1999, original Star Wars producer
07:09Gary Kurtz discussed George Lucas' initial plans for the Star Wars saga, which were outlined in
07:15the 1970s. As well as revealing that Han Solo was supposed to die in Return of the Jedi, a plot
07:20point that Harrison Ford would have definitely been chuffed to hear, Kurtz also noted that Leia
07:23was not to be Luke's sister. Instead, Luke's sister was going to be a completely different
07:28character who, interestingly, Lucas wasn't planning on introducing until Episode 8.
07:33Clearly, though, things changed when Lucas was developing the original trilogy, and if
07:37nothing else, we should all be thankful that the extended, more intimate version of their
07:41Empire Strikes Back kissing scene did not make the final cut.
07:463. Rey's Parentage
07:48The fact that the sequel trilogy didn't have a plan from the get-go meant that the movies
07:52didn't feel like a connected trilogy, rather that it felt that each entry was trying to make
07:56things up on the fly, which is exactly what happened. Along with those aforementioned Palpatine
08:01and Snoke retcons, this lack of planning was at its most evident with Rey's parentage,
08:05which was not only retconned between movies, but was also being changed while those movies
08:10were in the midst of production. The identity of her parents was one of the biggest questions
08:14coming out of The Force Awakens, but all was revealed in The Last Jedi, where we learned
08:18that they were just filthy junk traders who had sold her for drinking money. However, the
08:22Rise of Skywalker flipped this script by claiming that she was actually Palpatine's granddaughter,
08:27but according to Daisy Ridley, even that wasn't set in stone until they were deep into production.
08:32It came to episode 9 and JJ pitched me the film and was like, oh yeah, Palpatine is granddaddy.
08:37I was like, awesome, and then two weeks later he was like, oh actually we're not sure,
08:41so it kept changing. Even as we were filming, I wasn't sure what the answer was going to be.
08:45The actress also claims that the filmmakers were toying with an Obi-Wan connection at one point
08:49as well, before ultimately settling on The Last Jedi's nobody angle and then changing their
08:54minds again whilst making The Rise of Skywalker. The entire sequel trilogy is about Rey and her
08:59journey of discovery, so the fact that Lucasfilm didn't have a plan for that journey is quite
09:04frankly ridiculous. 2. Han and Greedo's Shootout
09:08Now Harrison Ford might not give a damn about this, but the Han and Greedo who shot first debate has
09:14been one of the most contentious topics in the Star Wars fandom for the last several decades.
09:18Did you shoot Greedo first, or did Greedo shoot you first? I don't care.
09:24The episode 4 scene in which our iconic smuggler is confronted by the bounty hunter has been subject
09:29to countless changes and re-edits over the years, each of them only adding more confusion to the
09:34situation than the last. In the original cut of the film, Han blasts Greedo away before the alien
09:39has a chance to react, emphasising the fact that Mr. Solo is quite the scoundrel and will do whatever
09:44it takes to survive. George Lucas, however, didn't want people to think that this lovable rogue was
09:48a cold-blooded killer, so he added a quick shot of Greedo firing first to justify Han's actions
09:54as being in self-defense. Now while having Greedo shoot first might seem like a small retcon,
09:59many fans feel that it weakened Han's turn from anti-hero to galactic savior, and that Han shot
10:04first is the definitive version of this scene. The makers of Solo A Star Wars Story agree with that
10:10sentiment as well, with the final confrontation between Han and Beckett being described as
10:14there can be no question that Han shoots first on the page.
10:181. Vader Being Luke's Father
10:21It's impossible to imagine the Star Wars saga playing out in any other way, but yes, indeed,
10:27quite possibly the biggest plot twist in cinematic history was actually retconned into existence,
10:32rather than being just planned out from the very beginning. A young Jedi named Darth Vader
10:36betrayed and murdered your father, states Obi-Wan in A New Hope, alluding to the fact that Luke's
10:41old man and Anakin Skywalker were originally two separate characters. Even when George Lucas came
10:47to hash out The Empire Strikes Back, this was still the case, with Lee Brackett's 1978 draft of the
10:52script featuring a scene where Luke meets his father, who is named Skywalker, and crucially,
10:57is not Vader. Sadly, Brackett passed away shortly after handing that draft in, and Lucas soon
11:02continued developing the story. It was during this time that Vader being Luke's daddy was added to
11:07the script, a twist so shocking that Lucas went to great lengths to keep it a secret, including
11:12telling the man in the suit, David Prowse, that the line was actually,
11:15Obi-Wan killed your father, and only adding in the real line in a post-production dub.
11:20Very sneaky indeed.
11:23And there we go, my friends. Those were the 10 biggest Star Wars retcons. I hope that you enjoyed
11:27that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in the comment section below.
11:30As always, I've been Jules, and you can go follow me over on Twitter at RetroJ, but the O
11:34is a zero, or you can swing by Instagram where it's the same handle, RetroJ, but the O
11:38is a zero. But before I go, I just want to say one thing. Hope you're treating yourself well,
11:43with love and respect, my friend, because you deserve all of the best things out there,
11:46and do not let anything or anyone else tell you otherwise, alright? You are a massive
11:50legend. You deserve love, happiness, and success. And I want you to go out there and absolutely
11:54smash your life goals today. I believe in you. As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome,
11:59never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.