This shocking discarded Star Wars plotline reveals George Lucas’ plan to give Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious a love interest, which would have completely changed his character in Star Wars movies and TV shows. Palpatine/Sidious is one of Star Wars’ most powerful Sith, and he has become increasingly important. In fact, he is in many ways Star Wars’ key villain, especially in light of the sequel trilogy bringing him back as the big bad.
Palpatine is also an impressively complex character. The prequel trilogy unveiled his surprising connection to Naboo—his home planet—which is known for its lush environment and a love of the arts, quite distinct from Palpatine’s nature. The prequels also demonstrated what a true mastermind Palpatine really was, as he orchestrated an entire war just to overthrow the Republic and wipe out the Jedi. Yet, Palpatine’s story almost took a bewildering turn in this canceled Star Wars TV show.
George Lucas’ Star Wars: Underworld Actually Featured A Palpatine Romance
This Plot Would Have Totally Changed Palpatine As A Character
George Lucas very nearly gave Palpatine a backstory that involved a woman who broke his heart in a canceled Star Wars TV show called Star Wars: Underworld. According to GamesBeat, Cory Barlog, who previously worked for Lucasfilm, explained:
“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.”
It’s nearly impossible to imagine feeling sympathy for Palpatine, who was proven to be so thoroughly evil throughout the Star Wars timeline, yet Barlog is very convincing in his description of a script that was evidently so moving it nearly brought him to tears.
While George Lucas ultimately threw out this plan, and Star Wars is unlikely to ever revisit it, it’s interesting to imagine Palpatine falling victim to anyone. He was so crafty, especially in the prequel trilogy, that it would take an exceptionally brilliant character to deceive him. It’s also a bit unclear when this would have taken place timing-wise, given if she “destroyed him as a person,” it suggests Palpatine wasn’t a Sith yet. The question remains: could this plot have truly worked?
I Don’t Think I’d Ever Be Ready To See This Palpatine Love Story
Not Every Character Needs A Tragic Backstory—Or To Be Sympathetic
In the end, it’s good news that this Palpatine love story never happened. For one, it would be controversial to say the least for Palpatine to have a romantic arc in the first place, let alone one in which he was deceived by the woman he loved. Even if this storyline was brilliantly executed and convinced viewers (which is a major ‘if’), this would likely prove very unpopular. More importantly, though, not every Star Wars villain needs to be sympathetic.
Even if this storyline was brilliantly executed and convinced viewers (which is a major ‘if’), this would likely prove very unpopular.
Arguably, Star Wars has given too many of its villains a tragic backstory and a sympathetic narrative arc. This worked well with Darth Vader, and this approach even had its merits for characters like Asajj Ventress in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Ben Solo in the sequel trilogy, but it’s been a bit overdone at this point. Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious is a fan-favorite Star Wars character in part because he is one of few truly evil characters, and this story would have changed that for the worse.
