George Lucas, surprisingly, felt that Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith would be the least popular installment of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. The Star Wars prequels were met with heavy criticism in their respective theatrical runs, and while the collective view of the films – especially among longtime Star Wars viewers – has certainly softened in recent years, they remain the subjects of heavy criticism, despite being far from the worst properties in the Star Wars franchise. Revenge of the Sith, however, is popularly considered the best film in the trilogy.

Despite the higher favor it has among the other Star Wars prequel movies, however, this wasn’t the sentiment Lucas felt towards the film. He was less positive about the third movie’s success, and he ultimately felt that it would end up being the least successful of the bunch. There’s a specific reason for that, but thankfully, Lucas ended up being proven wrong.

Why George Lucas Didn’t Realize How Big Revenge Of The Sith Would Be

Fascinatingly, it is precisely the dark and tragic nature of Revenge of the Sith that left George Lucas with little confidence in the film’s success, compared to its predecessors. As revealed in a bygone article for Imaginary Cinema, Lucas believed that Revenge of the Sith would be the least successful film in the prequel trilogy.

Lucas had been saying for some time that he expected Episode III to be the least successful of the films due to its dark and tragic storyline, but this was exactly what most fans wanted.

Lucas himself explained his thoughts in interviews back in 2005, such as one with CBS in which he said he himself wouldn’t be comfortable taking children to this one. “My feeling is it will probably be a big PG-13,” he predicted, “so it will be the first ‘Star Wars’ that’s a PG-13. I would take a 9- or a 10-year-old to it — or an 11-. But I don’t think I would take a 5- or 6-year-old to this. It’s way too strong. I could pull it back a little bit, but I don’t really want to.” He was right with the age rating – but wrong about its impact.

Of course, this prediction would end up being wrong, and Lucas’s Star Wars projects after Revenge of the Sith seemingly show that Lucas learned from the film’s success.

I Think George Lucas Learned From Revenge Of The Sith

Revenge of the Sith’s narrative felt entirely predictable, with no need or room for plot twists, given its task of following through on its two predecessors’ setup and connecting them to the widely known and beloved original trilogy. This only added to the effectiveness of the film’s tragedy, as most viewers knew how Revenge of the Sith would end from the get-go.

While there were many Star Wars properties released after Revenge of the Sith, the ones with the most significant creative involvement from George Lucas seem to have taken Revenge of the Sith’s success to heart. The protagonist of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Starkiller (Galen Marek), was raised by Darth Vader (who murdered his father) and while he eventually redeemed himself, Starkiller was always doomed to die before the events of A New Hope.

We recently learned new details about Star Wars: Underworld, the live-action TV show Lucas toyed with after Revenge of the Sith. Producer Rick McCallum got the chance to read some of the scripts, and he described it as something very different. “These were dark,” he recalled. “These were not…they were Sєxy, they were violent, they were just absolutely wonderful, wonderful…complicated, challenging…it would have blown up the whole Star Wars universe.” This fits with the lessons Lucas presumably learned from Revenge of the Sith‘s success.