It’s time to wrap up my story fixes for the Prequel Trilogy!
For a little refresher, Rule #20 of Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling has been my guide for this exercise, as part of an effort to exercise my storytelling skills. I’ve used this method to do “story fixes” for The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. Today, I’ll be concluding my rework of the Prequel Trilogy with Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith!
Story Ground Rules
Pixar suggests that, when doing this story fix exercise, you use the building blocks of the existing story—don’t throw out the baby with the bath water, so to speak. So, that’s what I’ll do in this rewrite. It won’t all be the same, but I’ll repurpose what I can.
I think I, like many people, consider Revenge of the Sith the high water mark of the Star Wars prequels. For the other rewrites in this series, I noted some changes that I thought would be good to know before diving into the rewrite. But for this movie, I don’t think that’s necessary. All the tweaks that have come before still apply, of course, but I hope the changes you’ll see below flow logically from the story we’ve created.
So, with that in mind, let’s get right into the rewrite:
Star Wars: Episode III Rewrite
Alright, let’s get to the story fix. If you want a refresher of what happened in the original film, you can check it out here. Otherwise, here’s my rewrite…
Revenge of the Sith
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
After three long years of fighting, the Galactic Republic is finally winning the war, pushing the Confederacy of Independent Systems to the edges of the galaxy. The Knights of the Jedi Order, including Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, lead clone armies against the Separatists’ dwindling droid forces.
Despite their success, Obi-Wan is plagued by a recurring vision of a dark figure, wreathed in flame, coming to destroy the Jedi. Obi-Wan believes this could be the Sith Lord that the Jedi Council—led by Mace Windu—is searching for. Though Darth Maul is held captive on Coruscant, they have been unable to extract any information from him.
Alongside Obi-Wan, Anakin has won tremendous fame throughout the galaxy as a result of his daring exploits. His renown is bolstered by promotion from Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who is also a popular figure as a result of the war.
Obi-Wan and Anakin lead a successful assault against a critical Separatist fortress, and the end of the war seems near. Upon returning to Coruscant, Palpatine declares Anakin a hero of the Republic and urges the Jedi Council to grant Anakin the rank of Jedi Master—something the young man greatly desires.
Despite Palpatine’s exhortations (or perhaps because of it), the Jedi Council denies Anakin and makes Obi-Wan a Jedi Master instead. Anakin is happy for his friend but holds a grudge against the Council. This tension escalates when the Senate appoints Anakin to be Palpatine’s personal representative on the Jedi Council.
Meanwhile, Padme and Bail Organa meet with other senators to discuss their concerns about Palpatine’s ever-growing power. Though she was once the most outspoken voice against the Separatists, Padme now leads an effort to establish peace and end the Clone Wars.
Without warning, Coruscant is attacked by a massive Separatist fleet—led by a reconstructed, cyborg General Grievous. While the Separatist forces wreak havoc, Grievous travels to the surface and kidnaps Palpatine, killing several of his Jedi protectors along the way.
Grievous flees with Palpatine aboard his wheel bike and is soon pursued by Obi-Wan and Anakin. The Jedi chase Grievous aboard speeders, but the droid general is able to escape to his orbiting ship. Anakin and Obi-Wan pursue Grievous in their starfighters and board his ship.
Grievous tries to jump to hyperspace but Republic warships prevent him from doing so. Obi-Wan and Anakin reach the room where Palpatine is being held. Grievous attacks them, but the Jedi get the upper hand and force Grievous to retreat. As they make their escape, Palpatine lets slip that Anakin is married to Padme. Obi-Wan is stunned by the revelation and Anakin swears him to secrecy, fearing the Council might expel him from the Jedi Order.
Defeated, Grievous and the remaining Separatists flee. Palpatine returns to the Senate and declares that the war must not end until General Grievous is captured and made to answer for his crimes. This worries the Jedi Council, who grow concerned with Palpatine’s growing power. They begin to suspect Palpatine is being influenced by the secret Sith Lord.
Anakin travels to Padme’s apartment and reunites with his wife. She expresses concern about Palpatine, but Anakin is unconvinced, viewing the Supreme Chancellor as his biggest supporter. Then, Padme reveals that she is pregnant with their child. Anakin is thrilled. They become more motivated than ever to end the war, and quickly.
In an effort to learn Grievous’ whereabouts, Obi-Wan and Anakin to speak to the imprisoned Darth Maul. Anakin taps into the dark side of the Force to interrogate the Sith, but Obi-Wan stops him. Maul tells them that the only way he’ll give them that information is if Anakin can best him in a duel. Anakin is willing, but Obi-Wan refuses to allow it.
Yoda is contacted by the remaining Separatist leaders—they express the desire to end the war and escape from the iron grip of General Grievous and his mysterious master. Yoda brings this information to Padme who, with Bail Organa and other trusted senators, arranges a time to meet the Separatist leaders to formalize a peace treaty.
Padme and her delegation travel in secret to meet the Separatist leaders. However, General Grievous waits for them, having found out about the meeting. He kidnaps the delegation and takes them back to his secret base on the volcanic planet of Mustafar.
Palpatine shares the news of Padme’s kidnapping with Anakin, revealing that Yoda encouraged Padme to go. Influenced by Palpatine, Anakin’s faith in the Jedi is shaken, and he begins to suspect that the Jedi do not care about the kidnapped senators and hope to bring the Republic under their control.
Obi-Wan has another vision of the dark, fiery figure trying to kill him. He hears the voice of Qui-Gon, urging him to find Anakin. Unbeknownst to him, however, Anakin is already there. In a desperate effort to learn Padme’s whereabouts, Anakin agrees to duel Darth Maul. He frees the Sith Lord and even gives him his lightsaber.
They duel and Anakin gives in to his rage. After a vicious struggle, he defeats Maul, but the Sith reveals he was lying—he has no idea where Grievous has moved the Separatist base. Enraged, Anakin chokes Maul to death with the dark side of the Force as Obi-Wan arrives.
Anakin is brought before the Jedi Council the next day to determine his recompense for giving in to the dark side and killing Maul. In a sincere attempt to justify Anakin's actions, Obi-Wan tells Yoda and Windu about Anakin's marriage to Padme. Unfortunately, this only makes things worse—Windu confronts Anakin with this information. Anakin is crushed by Obi-Wan's apparent betrayal and is expelled from the Jedi Order.
Palpatine seizes on this decision and shames the Jedi for expelling Anakin, a hero of the Republic. Public favor turns against the Jedi Order. Palpatine then appoints Anakin as head of the Republic’s army, putting him directly in charge of the clone troops and the Jedi.
Subsequently, Palpatine shares that Republic intelligence has discovered the location of the Separatist base. Anakin prepares a full-scale attack on Mustafar to end the war but is concerned for Padme’s safety. Palpatine claims that there are ways to prevent people from dying, ways not known to the Jedi.
Obi-Wan tries to reconcile with Anakin but is rebuffed. At Palpatine’s urging, Anakin devises a battle plan which has the Jedi leading the assault—placing them in the greatest danger. Yoda stays behind to confront Palpatine, convinced he knows something about the mysterious Sith Lord.
On Mustafar, Grievous plans to execute the Republic senators and escape to the Unknown Regions with his remaining forces. Padme looks for ways to escape her imprisonment. Suddenly, the Republic army arrives and attacks the Separatists. The fighting rages in space while the Jedi lead the ground forces below, led by Obi-Wan and Mace Windu.
Meanwhile, Padme finds an opportunity and makes her escape with the rest of the senators while the battle continues. Grievous joins the battle and duels Mace Windu, eager to get revenge on the Jedi who crippled him.
On Coruscant, Yoda questions Palpatine in the deserted Senate chamber. Palpatine reveals that he is the Sith Lord who orchestrated the conflict, pulling the strings on both sides. The two masters of the Force do battle.
Fearing for the lives of Padme and his unborn child, Anakin abandons his post and travels to the planet’s surface to search for them. Grievous and Windu continue to fight, and though Windu injures the droid general, Grievous uses trickery to defeat and kill the Jedi. However, upon death, Windu's body mysteriously vanishes.
Yoda and Palpatine continue their battle; eventually, the Jedi Grandmaster triumphs. But before Yoda can strike the killing blow, legions of clone troopers flood in and force Yoda to flee. Yoda realizes that Palpatine tricked him—in attacking the Supreme Chancellor, he would help Palpatine turn the Republic against the rest of the Jedi. Palpatine executes Order 66, and clone troops swarm the Jedi Temple, purging the remaining Jedi there.
Under Palpatine’s orders, Republic warships open fire on the Separatist base, destroying it completely. Anakin witnesses the base’s explosion and is devastated, fearing Padme was still inside. He runs to the wreckage, where he sees a wounded General Grievous also surveying the destruction. In a rage, Anakin uses the dark side to rip the droid general to pieces.
Obi-Wan arrives just in time to witness Anakin's slaughter of Grievous. He confronts his former Padawan. Anakin blames the Jedi for the loss of his family. Blind with rage, Anakin attacks Obi-Wan, who reluctantly fights and attempts to reason with him.
Eventually, as Anakin falls further into the dark side, Obi-Wan sees his long-feared vision come to life. Amid the fires of Mustafar, he sees the figure of what Anakin could become, a Dark Lord of the Sith, the Ender of the Jedi—Darth Vader. Upon this realization, Obi-Wan begins fighting Anakin with all his might.
Even still, Anakin is too powerful. Obi-Wan is nearly killed before tricking Anakin into using his rage, which destabilizes the surrounding rubble. At the last instant, Obi-Wan pushes Anakin under a collapsing portion of the base, seemingly killing him.
Devastated, Obi-Wan collects Anakin’s lightsaber and leaves and observes the battle’s aftermath: The Separatists are defeated, but thousands of Jedi lie dead—the Jedi Order is in tatters. Padme, Bail Organa, and the few surviving senators reunite with Obi-Wan. He tells Padme that Anakin died in the fighting and Padme grieves. She shares with Obi-Wan that she is pregnant.
On Coruscant, Palpatine tells the Senate that the Jedi, led by Yoda, staged an attempted coup, but were put down. He outlaws the remaining Jedi from Coruscant or the Core Worlds. Finally, he announces that for the safety of the galaxy, the Republic will be reorganized into a Galactic Empire—a decision overwhelmingly praised by the Senate.
On Alderaan, Padme sits somberly in the royal palace, under the care of the Organa family. A newborn baby rests in her arms. Yoda, in self-exile, arrives on Dagobah.
Palpatine travels to Mustafar and is stunned to find Anakin, still clinging to life, having used the Force to preserve his life despite severe injuries. Palpatine decides to save him, and Anakin undergoes the procedure that completes his transformation into Darth Vader.
On Tatooine, Obi-Wan carries a newborn baby in his arms. He walks toward a modest homestead situated on the desert sands as the twin suns fall below the horizon.
THE END.
Conclusion
So, what do you think of this new version of Revenge of the Sith? What do you like, what do you hate, and what would you have done differently? Let me know in the comments below!
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