With the battle of the Sarlacc pit, Return of the Jedi jumped into action. We remember it for Luke’s lightsaber skills, blinded Han Solo, and Boba Fett getting pushed into the pit. We probably don’t remember Leia using a steel pike against one of Jabba’s henchmen. And for good reason: it was a deleted scene from the movie.
A Deleted Scene with Leia and a Deck Gunner
As listed here, Return of the Jedi has many deleted scenes. A Tatooine sandstorm and dead stormtroopers are among the ones that were cut. There is one particular deleted scene from the Battle of Carkoon that has drawn some attention.
Fans speculated about a screenshot that was based on it. We don’t remember seeing Leia strike anyone that looks like this person because it did not make it to the final version of the movie.
The scene in question depicts an anonymous deck gunner, but Leia’s attack on him was cut from Return. Although this scene did not make it to the final movie, Wookieepedia specifies that we can still see a small part of it.
In the scene as it was shown in 1983, we can spot the moment. At 4:49 in the below clip, we can see Leia bending down to get the pole and the deck gunner is to her right. However, this gunner is gone after Luke says, “Get the gun! Point at the deck.”
The deck gunner lived on, though, in a Return of the Jedi coloring book that was released in 1984. The uncut scene also appears in the Star Wars Manga comic series. This afterlife may have helped trigger the screenshot.
This short video puts Leia’s scene in with two others that may have given the film too much violence. That could be the reason why it was cut. Yet, it could have made the barge scene more compelling because Leia would have taken on a more active fighting role.
Then again, Leia chokes Jabba to death before this deleted scene. Since this scene was in the movie, Leia knocking someone overboard may have pushed the limits.