Top 7 Rejected Jedi Master Luke Skywalker Concepts from The Force Awakens
Just a few weeks ago, a leaked image of Luke Skywalker, as he will appear in The Force Awakens, broke the internet. While we weren’t really shocked of how he was going to look, it was neat to see how the ol’ kook will look. After the jump we will see what was left on the cutting room floor of how some of LucasFilm’s concept artists wanted the Jedi Master to look.
This first concept was tying into the whole, Kinghts of the Round Table vibe TFA is appearing to have, with Kylo Ren and his crossguard lightsaber and the leaked Knights of Ren Medieval armor. Luke was to be the “king” of the Force, complete with his own crossguard lightsaber, but when JJ saw it looked just like King Arthur in Monty Python’s Quest for Holy Grail, he told the artist “NO!” but then proceeded to watch said movie that night.
Unknown to most, Mark Hamill was initially unable to appear in The Force Awakens due to not being able to shed his weight after eating so many Grunbergers. Jeff Bridges was approached to fill Hamill’s shoes as Luke Skywalker but luckily for us, the Dude did not abide as he was prepping to star in Tron 3, which was subsequently cancelled by Disney. Also lucky for us, Hamill was able to work with Chris Powell of ABC’s Extreme Weight Loss and slide into the Jedi robes we saw 2 weeks ago.
Next, the idea was for Luke to be animated, only appearing in a flashback described by Lupita Nyong’o’s Maz Kanata. The flashback was scheduled to be produced in a way that looked like the rotoscoping animation used in The Lord of the Rings of 1978. JJ finally canned the idea along with this Gandalf looking Luke Skywalker.
Another rejected concept had Luke as the keeper of a long dead Sith Lord’s grave, protecting it so a certain Knight of Ren wouldn’t resurrect him. We won’t say which Sith Lord the tomb belonged to, but it wasn’t Darth Plagueis. The idea of the crypt keeper was trashed, as was this unique concept of Luke.
Next we have this. Luke put himself in self exile after the Battle of Endor to study the Force. Luke eventually went stir crazy, never leaving Dagobah for almost 30 years. Above we see young Rey meeting Luke for the first time. This concept was scrapped as Hamill refused to grow his beard that long.
This concept actually had Luke don the armor of his father Darth Vader to bring honor back to his name. Luke masqueraded as Darth Vader doing good deeds such as rescuing Loth Cats from trees, helping the elderly cross the street, and appearing at the local Alcoholics Anonymous on Corunscant as a motivational speaker. The idea was shot down once the production team realized Darth Vader’s armor was burned on Endor and unable to be worn.
This next concept was a “what if” concept for the cancelled Star Wars Battlefront III showing what it would have been like if Ben Kenobi turned to the Dark Side. Once again the idea was scrapped as they didn’t want to make Luke the villain of the film to avoid fan backlash.
Because of the tight security in the “Luke Skywalker department” we were only able to pick up 7 rejected concepts rather than the usual 10.
Which rejected concept do you wish made the cut? Stay tuned to FSW for more fake news.
