Interesting fact–Lawrence Kasdan strongly urged George Lucas to kill off Luke and have Leia become a Jedi in Return of the Jedi. This is an interesting story on its own, but it also offers a compelling case for how this narrative move could have made the saga more compelling.
Kasdan Strongly Advised Lucas
This recent Reddit forum reveals that when Return was under development, Kasdan boldly suggested to Lucas, “I think you should kill Luke and have Leia take over.” Lucas didn’t like the idea at all, but Kasdan persisted. He argued that the third movie would have “more emotional weight” if Luke or another main character perished.
Most posts above agree with Lucas’s decision to reject killing off Luke. As one fan states, “Star Wars would certainly not be improved by killing off Luke and replacing him with Leia.” That may be true (more on that topic below), but as a co-writer, Kasdan was pushing for the optimum emotional journey.
Some of the story behind the debate over whether to kill Luke is conveyed in this video, which reveals how the creative team spent “five consecutive 10-hour days” crafting the story for the third original movie. Kasdan, producer Howard Kazanjian, and director Richard Marquand had read Lucas’s two draft scripts and watched the first two films “over and over again.”
The conference/meeting was “challenging” not least because of the contrasting exchange of ideas. Marquand and Kasdan thought there were “too many lead personalities” and strongly advised Lucas to kill one of them off. Then, the discussion progressed into how Lucas conceived of Luke becoming Vader (another surprise you may not have heard of).
Kasdan proceeded to emphasize how Luke’s dying would help the movie, but Lucas didn’t like the idea of killing main characters off. Kasdan argued that he wanted “to give the story some kind of edge to it.” Lucas appreciated how Kasdan was trying to make the movie “more realistic,” as he thought he had done with Obi-Wan, but didn’t think it was needed in the third film.
The two seemed to be split over the idea of killing a character that the audience loves, with Kasdan claiming that’s where the impact would come from. They were at odds over the “fairytale” and “fun” aspects of Star Wars.
Lucas had a point, but so did Kasdan. His idea of killing off Luke and having Leia take over could have worked.
If you want to read the full conversation between Lucas and Kasdan about killing off Luke, a fan has shared it on Reddit below.
George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan's discussion about ROTJ and the nature of Star Wars
byu/skumdumlum inStarWars
How Kasdan’s Idea Could Have Worked
Although many fans rejected Kasdan’s idea, it had potential, first off, because it could have made the story more dramatic. Killing off Luke could have been on par with the big reveal about Vader and Luke in Empire Strikes Back.
Coinciding with Kasdan’s thoughts, killing off a main character can create “an atmosphere of uncertainty” and a cathartic effect that resolves the story but also sets up a new trajectory. That new track would be Leia taking over as the main Jedi.
Leia becoming the focal Jedi would have foreshadowed the idea of Rey in the sequels. Although this character had mixed reviews, many fans took the concept of a female lead Jedi with a high degree of “kindness.” Leia could have established a similar role with Return, but perhaps taken on a stronger set of Force powers.
As this video conveys, we got a glimpse of Leia’s potential strength in Rise of Skywalker, yet the novel version by Rae Carson confirms that she’s more powerful than Luke. Luke even admits as much, at least that her natural gifts in the Force are stronger than his own. This companion video likewise supports the premise of a unique, powerful Jedi based on how Leia had already become “a defiant and aggressive negotiator.”
Kasdan may not have been thinking of all these dimensions, but we can see how the premise of Luke dying and handing over the baton to Leia had potential, blending emotion with plot possibilities.
This comparison of Han and Luke’s deaths in the sequels also reflects how killing off Luke in Return could have had emotional weight and plot potential. As with The Last Jedi, we may think that there could have been “a poetry to Luke’s death” if it had happened earlier. That is, it could have completed the father-son dynamic, left him as a martyr, and provided a platform for Leia to advance as the next Jedi.
Kasdan Advised Lucas
The story of Kasdan advising Lucas about killing Luke is an interesting anecdote. It also raises the prospect of how the Return and perhaps a follow-up movie could have unfolded. We gained some insight into this potential in the sequels, but it would have been fascinating to see this alternate version take hold.