Star Wars has been a part of our lives for more than 4 decades now. In these decades we have watched 3 whole Skywalker trilogies and 8 more movies. Now, that’s a lot of movies. But the Skywalker Saga has finally ended on the big screen (for now at least). 

Obviously, with such a big franchise, there are bound to be fans who felt dissatisfied with one aspect or the other of the movies. Also, we all know that sometimes fans feel dissatisfied with whole movies as well. This dissatisfaction makes them wonder- what if a character’s actions or words got changed to something else? 

Some fans dream even bigger, they ask what if certain decisions from the writers and directors got changed? Then how would that affect the entire trilogy or the entire Skywalker Saga moving forward? Of course, there are infinite such changes that fans want to make to the franchise. 

But here we will talk about the 7 most famous such ‘what if’ scenarios:

1. What If – In The Star Wars – Empire Strikes Back Leia Trained For Battle With Her Brother Luke?

We saw Leia train in The Rise of Skywalker first. But we learned more about her training in the Rae Carson novel for the movie. However, we first got to know about Leia’s training from Gary D. Schmidt’s Star Wars: From A Certain Point of View. There we saw from Yoda’s POV that Leia was seen as a strong-minded, decisive young woman who had the traits of a powerful Jedi. 

This description is in contrast to her brother’s. Luke had similar qualities to his dad and we all know how well that went for the entire galaxy. As such, after reading this, it makes sense why Yoda thought that Leia should get rid of the Emperor. However, what if- Yoda went with this idea and hadn’t listened to Kenobi when they were training the siblings? 

Changes In Star Wars Due To This: Bringing both the Skywalkers for the Dagobah training would have improved chances of their win. Also, it would have improved the chances of them bringing their dad to the good/light side. However, if they lost then all would end and there wouldn’t be any hope of defeating the Emperor and Sith. 

But this is a very fascinating point to ponder upon. If this had indeed been done, then the Skywalker saga would have been deeply impacted and chances are that entire storylines would be changed. 

2. What If- Kylo Ren’s Hand Was Taken By Rey In The Rise Of Skywalker?  

It was thrilling to see Rey and Ben Solo team up to fight Snoke as well as his skilled Praetorian guards. In fact many consider this moment to be unmatched by anything we had seen in the recent sequel trilogy. After all, that fight had power and amazing displays of the Force. 

Now, during the fight, there comes a moment when Kylo Ren extends his hand to Rey. He asks her to join his cause for power and control. There is a moment when the audience probably thinks that Rey’s going to do it.  However, Rey rejects him. But she says that she would have taken his hand if it was Ben’s. 

This is enough to make one wonder how The Last Jedi would have moved forward from here if Rey had taken Kylo’s hand naturally. Luckily, we have some thoughts on how it would change things. 

Changes In Star Wars Due To This: If Rey had indeed taken Kylo’s extended hand, then the rest 40 minutes would have involved a more adamant Kylo who wanted to kill the Resistance. After all, for him, the Resistance represented everything that would have made Rey want to go back again to the good path.

Now, Luke’s sacrifice surely would have ensured the survival of the rebels, however, the immediate next episode would get changed fully. We think that it would most probably put the spotlight on the other heroes trying to bring Rey (as well as Kylo) to the light. 

Of course, the next episode could have shown their relationship with a greater depth as well. Know that this is one of the biggest ‘what if’ moments that we would have loved to see. 

3. What If- Fan Favorite Han Solo Didn’t Survive In The Return Of The Jedi?

Harrison Ford has given a lot of vocal public interviews about Han Solo’s murder/death. Fans will know that even though Ford’s Han Solo was killed in The Force Awakens, but he actually wanted his character’s death to happen much earlier. In an interview, Ford said that: 

“the best utility of the character would be for him to sacrifice himself to a high ideal…that was at the third occasion of filming the original three.”

Viewers will know that Solo actually came close to his death in the movie The Empire Strikes Back, but he got rescued in the very next installment. However, the question has to be asked- what if George Lucas had indeed offed Solo when Ford wanted him to? How would things have turned out next? 

Changes In Star Wars Due To This: Before we begin, you need to know that Return of the Jedi doesn’t lack any emotional weight at all. But we also do understand where Mr. Ford is coming from. We can all agree that Solo’s death would have way more depth if he had died in the Endor battle. Not to mention that it would be given a lot of gravity to the story too. 

Of course, we need to also include how heart breaking it would have ended for Leia and Han. Now, if this would have indeed happened then the next movies would drastically change. The death of one of the most charismatic Star Wars character would definitely have affected the Rebellion and their fight. 

4. What If- In The Phantom Menace Darth Plagueis Has Shown Up?

We first heard about Darth Plagueis in the Revenge of the Sith movie from Chancellor Palpatine. We learned then that Darth Plagueis was actually a very powerful Sith who was able to manipulate midi-chlorians so as to create life. 

Along with this, Palpatine says that Plagueis actually passed all of his knowledge to Palpatine (his apprentice). However, we know that Palpatine ended up killing his master when he was asleep. Apart from this, we haven’t heard of Darth Plagueis much. But, we must mention that he gets talked about in the Tarkin novels as well as in The Rise of Skywalker. 

Later on, we discovered an interesting thing about Plagueis in the Star Wars Legends related Darth Plagueis novel by James Luceno. In there it’s said that Plagueis was indeed still alive during The Phantom Menace. As such, we have to ask- what if we got to see Darth Plagueis in the movie? 

Changes In Star Wars Due To This: Although it’s not revealed that Palpatine had hidden intentions towards other Episode I characters, but most of us already had the knowledge that he was indeed the Return of the Jedi’s emperor. Due to this, putting Plagueis into it wouldn’t have altered much. 

In fact doing so would probably have added another layer to Palpatine’s plans to overthrow the government. After all, if viewers had seen him muder his master and then become the main evil master, it would have shown him as more ruthless. Along with this, Plagueis’s presence would have allowed for the exploration of ‘Rule-of-two’ along with the unnatural ability of the evil side. 

5. What If- In The Last Jedi Palpatine Was Shown At The Very End?

Everyone who watched The Rise of Skywalker knows that the Palpatine reveal was a huge let-down. Since little time was spent on him so his presence isn’t impactful. In fact it feels jarring and random. As such, we believe that it would have worked better if he had been teased a little in the previous The Last Jedi movie. 

This would have at least made his presence feel more natural. However, before we explain the changes, we need to tell you that if you want a better Palpatine characterization in The Rise of Skywalker, then you need to read Rae Carson’s novelization of the movie. 

Changes In Star Wars Due To This: Rian Johnson made the decision to kill off Snoke by Kylo. This action had a duel effect- it did make sense for Kylo’s characterization and also it made everyone wonder what was going to happen next. As such, if a little tease had been included at the end that showed Palpatine or had perhaps even implied that good ol’ Snoke was just his puppet or clone, then there could be more flavour to the story. 

Palpatine’s reaction could have been anything, but the important part is that this cliffhanger would have given rise to more speculation that prepared fans for what was to come. Also we must say that if The Rise of Skywalker had touched on the methods using which he came back then the reaction wouldn’t be this bad to Palpatine. 

6. What If – In The Rise Of Skywalker Anakin Died In The Place Of Han Solo?

We are not even hoping that Harrison Ford will ever make a return as Han Solo in Star Wars. After all, we all know that he wanted Solo to die off early on. Now, he finally did get his wish on The Force Awakens and that too when everyone thought that man wasn’t going to ever die. 

In the moment when Solo talks To Kylo, the love that radiates from him destroys Kylo Ren and changes the whole movie’s direction. However, we have to ask- what if Ford had got his wish and Solo had been killed in the original trilogy? Then who would have taken his place in that crucial meeting with Kylo? We think that it would probably be Anakin. 

Imagine- what if the father-son moment got turned into one between grandfather-grandson? What if Anakin’s force ghost had returned? 

Changes In Star Wars Due To This: In The Rise of Skywalker, the makers emphasized the fact that the movie will be wrapping up fully the entire Skywalker saga. Now, the movie had a lot of elements which connected the entire saga together. However, none of them actually managed to sway the audience or make them feel a certain way. 

But this could have been changed if Anakin’s force ghost had been brought in. After all, Kylo was trying to end what Vader began- he wanted to become the biggest power source in the entire galaxy. So what if Vader has talked to Kylo and told him that he couldn’t win with the darkness? And what if he told him to complete what he as Anakin started? 

Now, this wouldn’t change anything, but it would tie the Skywalker movies together more closely. 

7. What If – In Revenge of the Sith Padme Didn’t Die?

The deaths of Padme and Anakin are definitely the ones that hurt the most. When Padme died, Anakin rose to the darkness and his children began walking their separate paths. So we have always wondered- what if Padme survived? 

Before we begin discussing the changes, let us establish one thing- since Padme believed in Anakin till her dying breath so we believe that had she survived she would have tried to bring him to the light. 

Changes In Star Wars Due To This: We know that no one would like to hear this, but even if Padme had survived, Anakin would still have become and stayed as Vader. After all, when Padme tells him to leave everything and come with her, he refuses. 

But, after his fight, we got to see that he still loves her. However the question here is- will that be enough to refuse the dark side and the emperor? We believe that Anakin would have returned to his family sooner or later (most likely later), but it would be a struggle for both of them. Now, if nothing else, that push and pull would have been helluva interesting to see. 

There will always be a lot of What If questions regarding Star Wars. Tell us your What If questions? Also, what do you think of our list? Let us know. 

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