How Star Wars’ Prequel Trilogy Could Have Been Better

Much like Star Wars‘ sequel trilogy, the prequels get a lot of schtick for quite a few reasons. The big question in the 16 years since this section of the saga ended is this; how could George Lucas have made them more exciting and mix into the original trilogy better?

We at ScreenHeads have put together our favourite ideas for how the prequels could have changed for the better.

Qui-Gon Jinn and Anakin ESCAPE from Tatooine

The pod race sequences divided fans for over 20 years now. Some fans find it to be an incredible spectacle for CGI at the time. Others think it just drags out. The race acts as the answer to whether or not Anakin will be free to leave Tatooine with Qui-Gon due to his bet with Watto.

But this is Star Wars; we obviously know that Anakin isn’t going to be a slave forever and he is going to win. Where’s the thrill? One way that the stakes could have been risen is to have Anakin lose. Amongst all of the excitement of the winner being congratulated, Watto could then see something; Qui-Gon and Anakin making a run for it on a speeder. From there, so much could have happened. A chase could have ensued with Watto and his gangsters hot on their tail. We could have even had a moment where Anakin almost falls off the back of the speeder with Qui-Gon pulling him back just in time (oh, how the times could have been different in Jinn missed him, eh?).

We obviously still know that little Ani will still leave Tatooine and grow to become the most feared being across the galaxy. But, doesn’t it give it a bit more juice if we get more of an action beat? It also adds to the emotion if Anakin isn’t able to give his mother a proper goodbye. This in turn gives more of a gut punch to their quick reunion in Attack of the Clones.

Keeping Padmé alive

Padmé’s death does make sense when tying up the trilogy, but we all know the plot hole that comes with it. Return of the Jedi states Leia has memories of her mother…even though she died minutes after her birth. This could just be a little nod to some level of force abilities, but for most fans it just doesn’t cut it.

To have Anakin/Vader and everyone else believe she is dead still could have worked. What could have stopped Bail Organa helping to somehow orchestrate a fake death, only for him to bring little Leia back home to Aldaraan to find *drum roll* Padmé is alive and well and can secretly raise at least one of her children without anyone knowing.

This idea still does raise questions of course. What happened to her between ROTS and ANH? How could she go so long without being noticed or recognised? How did she have time to fake a death? Was it a fail safe for if she realised she couldn’t save Anakin from his darkness? Obviously we’ll never know, but it would have raised a few eyebrows and gave a much bigger twist if Padmé lived and sewed up that gaping plot hole.

Related Article: How Star Wars’ Sequel Trilogy Could Have Been Better

More explanation for Anakin’s birth

The Phantom Menace reveals that Anakin was actually born of his mother and the force itself. This leads many to believe his miracle birth is the sign of The Chosen One prophecy – the one who will bring balance to the force. Although it is a mystery that may be best to have no answer, would it be good if we did get some level of explanation?

A deleted idea from Revenge of the Sith actually had Palpatine reveal to Anakin that he is responsible for his existence, in that he manipulated midichlorians (yeah, you can tell its a prequel entry) to create life. That life became Anakin.

It would have been fun, and it would have been the final nail in the coffin for Anakin being fully pledged to Darth Sidious. It also could have slightly echoed back to the famous “I am your father” line. Instead, we were left with the idea of the force knocking up Shmi Skywalker like the miraculous conception. The mystery is definitely workable, but wouldn’t it have been nice for it to somehow tie into his downfall (which did actually tie into the outcome of the prophecy).

Less politics

Yeah, the worst part of the sequels in many cases. It is a given that the political scenes exist purely to show Palpatine’s growing manipulation and power over the senate…but did they need to be so long?

One big criticism for the prequels is that the films try to cram too much development in. Could this time have not been spent exploring more interesting plot threads? I would give half of a senate scene in TPM to see a few things; small outburst from Anakin to show he has a droplet of darkness even from a young age, additional alluding to Palpatine’s true identity, and some more bonding between Obi-Wan and Anakin.

Again, these scenes are important to a degree, but they take up too much screen time, much like the pod racing sequence. This is probably one of my biggest personal gripes.

Qui-Gon SACRIFICING himself for Anakin

This has to be one of our team’s favourites. The Darth Maul vs. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon is easily one of the best sequences in the entire Star Wars franchise. Unfortunately, it ends with Qui-Gon being struck down and leaving Obi-Wan to beat the big bad. In Qui-Gon’s dying breath, he has his apprentice promise him that he will train Anakin and always trust that he is The Chosen One. All well and good, and it helps lead Obi-Wan to his famous partnership with Skywalker, however this could have gotten much more personal.

As fun as Anakin’s time in a starship during the third act of TPM is, how much better would it have been if he stayed behind and went looking for Qui-Gon as he does battle? What if Anakin found popped out of nowhere and found himself in the firing line of Maul. Qui-Gon’s belief in the prophecy around Anakin would have surely had the Jedi master sacrifice himself to save the youngster.

What would this have given us? Well, Obi-Wan would have to swallow his anger over the circumstances of his master’s death (he is a Jedi after all) and agree to still train Anakin of course. But Anakin’s downfall in ROTS? In Obi-Wan’s mind, the sacrifice his mentor/father figure made would have been for nothing. He would trained the young boy who was responsible for losing his master, soldiered on and trained him for over a decade…only for said young boy to turn into a sith lord who helps to wipe out Jedis across the galaxy.

Now, wouldn’t that have added an extra juicy layer to that final big fight between Kenobi and Vader? To have that anger take over Obi-Wan just for a bit would have made the pay off of Anakin turning to the dark side that bit more interesting to watch. You never know though. The upcoming Kenobi series could touch on how the Jedi master deals with a lot of thoughts during his exile on Tatooine. Maybe his memory of Qui-Gon having so much faith in Anakin will play a role into something we see?

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Overall, the prequels weren’t perfect, but we did still get a trilogy that stuck the landing enough to have them rewatched almost two decades later and also birth some of the best memes online today….the best memes online today, right? (see what I did there?)

Think there are other ways the Star Wars prequels could have been improved? Let us know in the comment section below!