Before Mace Windu’s lightsaber was revealed on screen for the first time in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, the blade was supposed to be an entirely different – and much more common – color. Mace Windu is one of Star Wars’ most interesting Jedi. As an elected leader of the Jedi Order, Windu had a significant role to play in the Jedi Order’s inevitable downfall, leading his fellow Jedi into battle on Geonosis in Attack of the Clones and eventually during the Clone Wars as well.

Mace Windu’s purple lightsaber is iconic for several reasons, chief among them being that, for a while, Windu was the only known character to wield a purple lightsaber on screen (this has since shifted, as several characters of the High Republic era, for instance, also wield purple lightsabers). That distinctive color is a mᴀssive part of Windu’s appeal, so learning what his original lightsaber color was supposed to be might come as a shock.

Mace Windu Originally Had A Blue Lightsaber

Before (and just after) Samuel L. Jackson took on the role in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Mace Windu initially wielded a blue lightsaber. This original lightsaber appeared in comic series like Star Wars: Jedi Council – Acts of War by Randy Stradley and Davidé Fabbri, the Star Wars: Republic (1998) comic series, and the LucasArts game Star Wars: Episode I – Jedi Power Battles, which was first released in April 2000 (the 2024 re-release cover art features Windu’s purple lightsaber).

This was all because Mace Windu never ignited his lightsaber in The Phantom Menace, so there was no reason to believe he’d have anything other than the traditional Jedi blue or green. So why did George Lucas change the lore and give Mace Windu such an instantly iconic color? That’s all down to Samuel L. Jackson.

Samuel Jackson Convinced George Lucas To Make It Purple

In an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, host Graham Norton asked Jackson how he ended up with a purple lightsaber. Being his usual charismatic self, Jackson explained not only how he wound up playing Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequels – he’d mentioned on a talk show that he wanted to be in Star Wars, and George Lucas invited him up to Skywalker ranch to discuss a potential role – but also how he convinced Lucas to give him a different colored lightsaber.

“I come back the next year, and I was like, ‘Okay, he didn’t kill me off.’ We had this big arena fight scene with all these Jedi, and they’re fighting or whatever, and I was like, ‘Well sh*t, I want to be able to find myself in this big old scene.’ So, I said to George, ‘You think maybe I can get a purple lightsaber?’ And he was like, ‘lightsabers are green or lightsabers are red,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, but I want a purple one… I’m like the second baddest Jedi in the universe next to Yoda.’ He goes, ‘let me think about it.’ When I came back to do reshoots he said, ‘Let me show you something,’ so I already caused a sh*tstorm online, and he had the purple lightsaber! And I was like, ‘Yeah!’ So I could find myself in the middle of that big fight scene in the middle of that, you know, there’s like 300 lightsabers, and it’s ‘there I am, right there!’”

It’s a good thing he did, too, because that color change arguably led to bringing the intriguing lightsaber lore Star Wars Legends was known for into canon, giving different-colored blades more meaning. Instead of just blue, green, red, and purple, there’s now also canonically white, yellow, orange, and different shades of blue and green, too. And you know what? Samuel L. Jackson was right: it’s impossible to miss Mace Windu on that all-important Star Wars battlefield.

Mace Windu

Created By

George Lucas

Cast

Samuel L. Jackson

First Appearance

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

Died

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

Alliance

Jedi

Race

Human

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