MOVIE NEWS – In the original plans for the Star Wars sequel trilogy, George Lucas planned to feature the Sith Force ghosts, which are, in fact, canon.

George Lucas’s long-forgotten plans for the Star Wars sequel trilogy would have featured the Sith Force Ghosts. This is a concept that is part of the canon of the franchise. Before Disney solidified its acquisition of Lucasfilm, Lucas outlined plans for a new trilogy of Star Wars films. Although some of these concepts have been included in Disney’s three-film sequel story, it is clear that Lucas’ plans for a Star Wars sequel after Return of the Jedi would have been very different.

One indication that George Lucas’ plans for the Star Wars sequel trilogy might have been different could be the Sith Force ghosts mentioned in Phil Szostak’s The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

The book includes concept art from Lucas’ original designs that predate Disney’s work on the Star Wars sequels. They depict an elderly Luke Skywalker in exile, with a Sith Force ghost at his side. The concept drawings are accompanied by a text from Christian Alzmann, Chief Artistic Director of Industrial Light & Magic, who said:

“We’ve seen dead Jedi come back as blue ghosts. Maybe Sith can come back… We did talk a lot about how the final battle frontier may be in the spirit realm. So you have to have a bad-guy ghost.”

All this also shows that Rian Johnson’s film had somewhat similar plot points. The concept of Luke going into exile was also initially planned by Lucas in his ideas for the sequel. Here, too, Luke was in hiding on the site of the first Jedi Temple. However, Johnson did not go so far as to introduce Sith Force ghosts. However, the concept art was used as a reference when creating the older, exiled Luke Skywalker.

How do Sith Force ghosts fit into George Lucas’ Star Wars canon?

The Star Wars sequels, as written, do not contain a concept like the Sith Force Ghosts. However, the idea is in the canon differently. Even in one of the sequel films. Unlike the Jedi, who can manifest a spirit form in the physical world, as seen with Yoda, Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, and Leia Organa, Sith spirits are more tied to specific objects or places.

This was shown in Star Wars: Age of Skywalker with the return of Emperor Palpatine, one of Disney’s departures from Lucas’ plans for a Star Wars sequel.

In order to keep his consciousness alive, Palpatine bound his spirit to the planet Exegol. This explains why there is a Sith presence on the planet, with Palpatine’s clones and the Eternal Sith. While not Force ghosts like the ones we saw in Jedi, Sith ghosts can still live on in the Star Wars canon.

Source: Wookieepedia