10 More Deleted Star Wars Moments You Won't Believe Nearly Happened

After previously taking a closer look at 10 other times that Star Wars nearly unleashed some rather strange and shocking moments on screen, from gruesome fates to bizarre conversations, it's time to have a look at another collection of weird and wonderful scenes that almost popped up in your favourite films and TV shows set in this iconic galaxy far, far away. Because I am Gareth, this is What Culture Star Wars, and here are 10 More Deleted Star Wars Moments You Won't Believe Nearly Happened. 10. Ponda Baba Loses His Head, Episode 4, A New Hope Swiftly making an impact following on from his introduction in 1977's Star Wars, the furry thug known as Ponda Baba, alongside his pal Dr Cornelius Everzan, picked a fight with the wrong folks within Mos Eisley's cantina. Sure enough, his attempts to bully young Luke Skywalker resulted in his arm meeting the business end of a lightsaber. However, had the original version of this scene survived when putting the picture together, then things could have been a whole lot worse for old Baba. You see, according to behind-the-scenes images doing the rounds online, there appeared to be plans at one point to have Obi-Wan Kenobi cut off the Aqualish's head during their scuffle. Probably feeling that this gory moment would have been a little too grim for a movie primarily aimed at kids though, the call was soon made to just have the space wizard slice off the bully's arm instead. It was likely the right move, yeah? With the visual of Baba's bloody limb definitely being enough to sell the idea of lightsabers being a rather effective and dangerous weapon. Also, slicing the head off a punter is probably not the best way to avoid unnecessary attention in a busy bar, right? Still though, those images show just how close fans really were to seeing Ponda's head shockingly roll in Episode 4 A New Hope. Though not the first of this species to hold a lightsaber in the galaxy far, far away, Gungi has also been doing his thing in the animated Star Wars The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch shows over the years, but Kalnaka did become the first live-action Wookiee Jedi during the Acolytes' first season. For a bit. In the end, the towering Jedi master was suddenly murdered by the stranger during Episode 4 Day. However, viewers never actually got to see the duel which led to Kalnaka's demise, with May simply finding the dead Wookiee with a lightsaber slash across his chest. And that was that. But that wasn't actually the original plan though. At one point, fans were actually going to see a full Kalnaka vs the Stranger showdown on screen, but according to one of the episode's writers, Claire Keischel on X, this early draft idea was ultimately sliced out of the series because it, in her words, broke the POV of the episode in a way that I think wouldn't have worked as well. Admittedly, having the Stranger show up and cross lightsabers with the mighty Wookiee here would have probably undermined his epic reveal from the perspective of Osha and the Jedi a little later on in the episode. But while we would at least see Kalnaka waving his lightsaber around in later episodes, you'd still be lying if you said you didn't want to see what a big furry Jedi fighting a powerful masked dark side user looked like on your screen. As noted by this writer, there was very much a time there when this on-screen fight was being considered. 8. The Bad Batch's Padme Art – Star Wars The Clone Wars In the wake of their Star Wars debut in the animated The Clone Wars series, The Bad Batch quickly went on to become one of the most beloved groups of characters in this galaxy far, far away. Their unique mixture of personalities and abilities made Clone Force 99 a real highlight of the final season of the show, and whenever they interacted with franchise icons like Anakin Skywalker and Captain Rex, you were almost always guaranteed a memorable moment. There was one specific and rather cheeky conversation between this Bad Batch and the Chosen One which didn't actually make it into the series however. With Skywalker noticing a bit of nose art on the front of the gang of clone ship, he's soon informed that this is none other than the Naboo Senator that the squad check out on the holoscans. Unsurprisingly, he doesn't take this or Wrecker saying she could negotiate with him any time very well, telling Rex that the art would not be staying there. If you're wondering why this surprisingly provocative moment from the unfinished The Clone Wars story reel didn't make it into the finished episode, one of the show's creators Dave Filoni had the answer. According to a fan on X, Filoni eventually explained in a screening of this Distant Echo episode that, with Padme not being in this season that much, having this be one of the few ways she was depicted was not something they wanted to do to her. So this brief exchange was ultimately replaced with a far more compelling secret holocall conversation between the lovebirds, all while Rex keeps watch. And while we're talking about the animated Clone Wars series, I want to know right now, what is your favourite animated Star Wars episode ever? It doesn't just have to be The Clone Wars, it could be Rebels, it could be whatever you want, you pop it in that comment section down below. 7. The Extended Version of Palpatine vs The Jedi Masters – Episode 3, Revenge of the Sith Now while the scene itself may have eventually made its way into the dramatic final chapter in the prequel trilogy, the original version of Sheev Palpatine's lightsaber battle against members of the Jedi Council was reportedly scrapped. Before George Lucas eventually felt that viewers needed to see a closer look of the eventual Emperor's face during that fight within his office, the idea was to apparently have Ian McDiarmid's stunt double do pretty much all of the duelling. And the test footage eventually revealed on the AtGillardStunts YouTube channel revealed a version of this fight that was far more gripping and impressive than the occasionally quite jarring one that fans eventually got in Episode 3, Revenge of the Sith. With McDiarmid only having 5 days to learn his choreography, and admitting himself that he isn't a master swordsman, the eventual combination of CGI, stunt double work and rather plodding close-up shots of the actor didn't really gel together well. The whole sequence was a bit underwhelming to be honest. Just fully committing to digitally slapping McDiarmid's face onto his stunt double for this electrifying showdown definitely would have been the better call in hindsight, with even these rough test clips feeling far more intense and captivating than the cartoonish end product that Lucas pushed for. If only the director had stuck to the plan, eh? 6. Ahsoka Speaks With The Bendu Before Facing Vader – Star Wars Rebels While the name itself would actually first show up in the first draft for the original Star Wars movie, with those pages mentioning the Jedi Bendu, the small screen debut of it actually occurred during the Star Wars Rebels animated series. Voiced by Doctor Who's Tom Baker and The Bendu, a being that represented the centre of the force, would cross paths with the likes of Ezra Bridger and Kanan Jarrus in the show. One character who didn't get to share the screen with this wise, force-sensitive being, however, was the legendary Ahsoka Tano. But that's not to say she didn't meet Bendu at all. In fact, according to Rebels creator Dave Filoni, a scene which saw the two talking was actually written and went down during the Mystery of Chopper Base episode. But while the moment did actually happen within the universe, it didn't quite make it into the finished episode. Filoni would ultimately reveal some of the dialogue from and the artwork for that scene which never ended up on the screen on X. Tano's conversation with the powerful and wise creature involved the Bendu telling her that a lot was about to change, including Ahsoka, due to her then-upcoming encounter with her former master Anakin Skywalker-slash-Darth Vader on Malachor. And by change, he meant death. There is no such thing as too much Bendu. So getting to see Tano interact with the huge, captivating entity would have no doubt been a delight. Instead, fans were left to simply imagine what this exchange would have looked or sounded like based on Filoni's revealing tweet. Thanks for stopping by to watch this WhatCulture Star Wars video today, ya legend. Now go and hit that subscribe button down below, and you'll get more of this WhatCulture Star Wars stuff in your corner of the galaxy. 5. A Portals Moment – Episode 9, The Rise of Skywalker Even possibly the worst episode in the Skywalker saga still has the odd, rather awesome moment. And one scene that definitely falls into that category in Episode 9, The Rise of Skywalker, is the sequence which sees Rey hearing the voices of some of the most famous Jedi in Star Wars history, as their words give her the strength to take down the Emperor, who somehow returned. That rather nostalgic collection of voices pales in comparison to a version of this scene that reportedly nearly happened instead. According to a source who worked closely on the production of the film, with this information later popping up on Reddit, that sequence originally was supposed to involve the likes of Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson and any other actor who didn't play an animated Jedi appearing in live action, a moment later referred to as an end-game portal scene by X-User at BSK the King. It was even reportedly shot with the actors in full costumes, and these forced ghosts serving as sort of a barrier between her and the Sith surrounding them. Now it is tough to know for sure whether this Jedi assembling moment was officially put in front of a camera, but if this source is to be believed, then arguably The Rise of Skywalker's best moment was almost infinitely better. Following on from his incredibly divisive arrival in Episode 1, The Phantom Menace, Jar Jar Binks' role in the subsequent two prequel trilogy films was massively reduced. No longer was the silly Gungan helping out our heroes during their many missions, instead he was largely left on Coruscant and off-camera, only showing up for the odd scene in the movies. However, one of said scenes ultimately contained quite a crucial moment in Star Wars history. Standing in for Senator Padme Amidala after she decided to go into hiding in the wake of a number of attempts on her life, an easily manipulated Binks, now a junior representative, ultimately convinced the Galactic Senate to give emergency powers to the Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine. And we all know how that turned out. Binks doesn't really do that much from that point on, but he did almost show up in a scene that eventually got cut out of Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith. According to Best via Entertainment Weekly, he remembered a conversation between Binks and Palpatine that was deleted in the end. The scene would have seen the latter thanking the former for putting him in power, with Best adding that the scene really showed the evolution of Jar Jar from this fun-loving kid's character into this manipulated politician, and was really dark in his words. But Lucas clearly didn't feel it worked in the movie he was trying to make, so Best was left with just the two words in that last prequel instead. It's always important to remember whenever you're left rolling your eyes at some of the goofier moments found in the prequels in particular, that George Lucas created his galaxy far, far away for children to enjoy. And that's what likely led to him waking up one morning, and deciding to create and eventually shoot a scene which saw Anakin Skywalker speaking binary during his and Obi-Wan Kenobi's Palpatine rescue mission. Yeah, that's right, the awesome opening sequence involving the Chosen One and his master fighting their way onto the Han Dreadnought very nearly had the future Darth Vader speaking like a droid. The deleted scene is as ridiculous as it sounds, with Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor trying their best to keep a straight face as they power through Anakin's surreal attempts to understand and copy what R2-D2 is beeping to him after their translator breaks. Sure, it probably would have made the odd kid chuckle watching Skywalker talk like a droid before becoming more machine than man, but Lucas definitely made the correct call when he opted to chop this weird moment out of the rescue. Remember that exciting sequence during Episode VII The Force Awakens when Rey experiences a Force vision after touching the legendary Skywalker lightsaber? Daisy Ridley's scavenger is thrust into important moments from the past and future, hearing Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi's voices, and even seeing a cloaked Luke Skywalker kneeling next to his burning temple. And this is also a scene which almost included an unexpected return to one of the most famous moments in the franchise's history, too. As noted by The Guardian, reports from making Star Wars and the Star Wars The Force Awakens Rey Storybook both suggested that Rey was originally supposed to see the moment when Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker fought in Episode V The Empire Strikes Back in her vision. Not only that, but different actors were also apparently cast to play the iconic roles for this moment that saw Rey watching the action from a new vantage point in Cloud City. Images would then later pop up online of actor Robert Boulter dressed as Luke for the fight, which was sadly scrapped from the final sequence. Imagine being cast to play Luke's Skywalker and not getting to see yourself battle it out with Darth Vader. Poor Boulter, man. 1. No high ground on Mustafar Episode III – Revenge of the Sith As difficult as it may be to believe, easily one of the most memorable moments in all of Star Wars was once not even a part of a rather famous duel. After aggressively swinging their lightsabers at each other in one of the most emotional clashes the franchise has ever produced, Anakin Skywalker stupidly attempts to get the better of an Obi-Wan Kenobi who had the high ground. Silly boy. Sure enough, the soon-to-be cyborg was sliced up by his one-time master and brother. However, it was recently revealed in Empire Magazine that this all-important fight initially didn't even boast any high ground drama. Instead, as stunt coordinator Nick Gillard would explain in an interview for the magazine, as it saluted 25 years of the prequels, Kenobi and Skywalker just both landed on the side of the lava flow at first, before then proceeding to fight right away. From here, in this original version, the chosen one would disarm his former master and grip his throat. And then, right when Anakin was on the verge of slicing off Kenobi's head, Obi-Wan used the force to grab his lightsaber and defend the attack. But in the process of pulling his weapon to his hand to protect himself, he also ends up chopping through his old padawan's arms and legs. Lucas ultimately got rid of that late struggle as he felt he wanted something different though. And that's what led to the legendary high ground exchange being born. A world without Anakin being cut down after arrogantly trying it. According to Gillard, it was a whole lot closer than most fans realise.