George Lucas had a plan for Emperor Palpatine in a canceled Star Wars TV show, a plan that would have done more damage to the franchise than anything else. Since Disney took control of Star Wars after buying Lucasfilm in 2012, the franchise has expanded dramatically. The many Star Wars TV shows of recent years are proof of this.

These small-screen efforts have allowed Lucasfilm to explore several eras of the franchise’s timeline, be it Star Wars’ New Republic era via The Mandalorian or the reign of the Empire in Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor. Upcoming Star Wars TV shows will continue this, with Ahsoka season 2 set to be vital to the overall story arc of the New Republic.

This is not to say that Star Wars was a stranger to the realm of TV under George Lucas’ direction, however. The filmmaker was responsible for the expanded timeline of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which provided heaps of context for the original trilogy. Beyond this, Lucas planned a Star Wars TV show that would have changed the franchise completely.

This show, Star Wars: Underworld, is now infamous for what was promised yet never delivered, after being canceled in 2010. When examining some of the planned storylines for this noir-style show set in the bowels of Coruscant, it becomes clear that Lucas’ depiction of Palpatine may have been even more divisive than that of Disney’s sequel trilogy.

George Lucas Planned To Humanize The Emperor

Star Wars: Underworld was planned to take place within the Dark Times of the galaxy. During the Empire’s reign between Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and the original Star Wars, the show would have been a noir-style story focused more on character and dialogue than anything else, almost akin to Disney’s Andor.

Involved in this story would have been Emperor Palpatine himself. This fact somehow came to light through a connection between Star Wars: Underworld and God of War, a 2018 video game. The director of the latter, Cory Barlog, revealed how unused scripts for Star Wars: Underworld inspired God of War:

“Probably the really small beginnings of this idea, the germination of this — when I was working at Lucas, I was allowed to go up to the ranch and read the scripts for the [canceled live-action Star Wars] TV show. It was the most mind-blowing thing I’d ever experienced. I cared about the Emperor. They made the Emperor a sympathetic figure who was wronged by this f***ing heartless woman. She’s this hardcore gangster, and she just totally destroyed him as a person. I almost cried while reading this. This is the Emperor, the lightning out of the fingers Emperor. That’s something magical. The writers who worked on that, guys from The Shield and 24, these were excellent writers.”

With this reveal by Barlog, it is clear that George Lucas intended to depict the Emperor in a manner that Star Wars had never seen before.

Lucas’ storyline involving Palpatine would have completely stripped away the dark side evil from the Emperor in a way neither the original trilogy nor the prequel trilogy did. Instead, Lucas was going to show Palpatine as a human, one who had his heart broken, in an attempt to truly make the audience sympathize with Star Wars‘ most powerful Sith Lord.

Palpatine Works Best As A Force Of Nature

Despite this planned arc for Palpatine in Star Wars: Underworld, I think Lucas got the character right in the first place; Palpatine undeniably works best as a force of nature, the epitome of evil, the embodiment of darkness. Palpatine being depicted as such is what makes a plethora of Star Wars stories so impactful.

Other Star Wars villains like Maul, Boba Fett, Kylo Ren, and, of course, Darth Vader allowed Lucas and other filmmakers to explore sympathetic villains. Therefore, Star Wars needed a dark lord, one with no redeeming qualities, to serve as the evil figurehead of the franchise. In countless ways, Palpatine filled that archetype.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker said it best, with Palpatine claiming, “I am all the Sith.” Then there is the excerpt from Adam Christopher’s upcoming novel, Master of Evil, which typifies Palpatine’s dark side nature in Star Wars: “There is no power in the Force that is not mine, for I am the dark side.”

Palpatine works much better as this all-knowing, all-evil force of darkness. The original trilogy thrived on its depiction of Palpatine as this, as did the prequel trilogy. Stories like Andor, describing Palpatine as the monster who will come for us all, knew this, doubling down on how Palpatine simply prospers as the personification of evil in Star Wars.

What Palpatine’s New Portrayal Would’ve Meant For The PT & OT

With that in mind, the portrayal of Palpatine in Star Wars: Underworld would have drastically altered the perception of his character in the original and prequel trilogies.

If the plan to have Palpatine experience love, loss, and heartbreak had come to fruition, it may have made the character more sympathetic and human, but it would have also stripped him of what made him such a great villain. The aforementioned feeling that Palpatine is a force of evil nature would have been intensely reduced, weakening Star Wars overall.

For instance, in a world where the canceled Star Wars: Underworld and Lucas’ planned Palpatine story had happened, the original trilogy would have been recontextualized. Rather than attempting to destroy the Jedi and dominate the galaxy due to his innate evil, audiences would watch it knowing his actions are partly driven by heartbreak.

Again, this would have added a level of sympathy to Palpatine’s character, but it also brings a level of discomfort. Through this storyline, Palpatine’s post-Star Wars: Underworld behavior would feel almost incel-like, with the once-completely evil Emperor now operating as he is because he was scorned by a woman he once loved.

This is not to say that was Lucas’ intention. Lucas regularly utilizes heartbreak and romantic relationships in Star Wars ​​​​​​to great effect, with Anakin and Padmé being a prime example. As such, it is worth noting that I think Lucas would have attempted to give Palpatine a connection like this with earnestness and sincerity.

However, I cannot separate this from the online realm of the modern era, where some heartbroken men misogynistically blame and heartlessly mistreat women as a whole, due to having once been hurt by one. If Star Wars: Underworld had happened as was planned, I do not think I could view Palpatine’s actions in the original trilogy any differently.

Where the prequel trilogy is concerned, Star Wars: Underworld would only have further worsened Palpatine’s overall depiction in the franchise. The prequels show Palpatine as that oft-mentioned personification of evil, aligning with the original trilogy. If Star Wars: Underworld had been nestled between these two trilogies, though, the overall character arc for Palpatine would feel fractured.

Audiences would have three Star Wars movies where Palpatine is shown as a cold-hearted, manipulative politician-turned-Sith Lord, with no regard for anyone but himself and the furtherance of his evil plans. This would then be followed by an opposite story, one of a man who falls for a woman and has his heart destroyed in the process.

If Star Wars: Underworld had happened as Lucas planned, it would have had several detrimental effects on the character. Palpatine would go back and forth from evil to sympathetic and back again. One story involving Palpatine would not feel consistent with the next, causing an emotional whiplash that is not present when Palpatine is simply the evil villain of Star Wars across all projects.

George Lucas’ Underworld Plans Would Have Done So Much More Damage Than The Sequels

To further outline how Lucas’ Star Wars: Underworld would have been detrimental to the wider franchise, it would have been even more damaging than the divisive Star Wars sequels. Disney’s sequels are often counted collectively as the worst Star Wars trilogy, primarily due to the way each installment felt disconnected from the others.

Despite that overall feeling that each sequel movie was its own beast rather than part of an interconnected saga, each one still mostly made sense within the wider storytelling arc of the Star Wars franchise; Palpatine’s resurrection in The Rise of Skywalker felt rushed and unearned, but it still kept him in place as the franchise’s main villain and the embodiment of the dark side.

Had Lucas implemented his plans, Palpatine would have been stripped of the character traits that made him so threatening and menacing since 1977. This would undoubtedly have caused more controversy, division, and disappointment than the sequels ever did.

Aside from Luke Skywalker’s depiction in The Last Jedi, the sequels at least stayed consistent with the character archetypes established in Lucas’ Star Wars movies. The canceled story of Star Wars: Underworld cannot be argued to do the same. These plot points would have caused untold characterization issues in Star Wars, not least for the franchise’s main antagonist.