George Lucas Removed 1 Clever Palpatine Line from ‘Revenge of the Sith’

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The author of the official novel based on Revenge of the Sith recently shared that George Lucas cut a smart line of dialogue for Palpatine, which could have dramatically altered the Star Wars story. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Revenge of the Sith becoming part of the official Star Wars timeline, two decades after its release in theaters. To celebrate, the people who worked on the film have been discussing details about the movie, which was originally intended to conclude the Skywalker family saga.

Matthew Stover, who wrote the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, recently shared behind-the-scenes details about the film in a new, expanded edition of his book. This deluxe release provides fresh insight into beloved scenes and how they came to be.

While discussing the 20th anniversary of Revenge of the Sith, author Matthew Stover shared an interesting detail about George Lucas’s first draft of the Star Wars script. Stover explained that Lucas had made a specific change to his original vision for the movie while working on the novelization.

According to screenwriter Jonathan Hales (writing as Stover), an early version of the script featured a surprising moment: the manipulative Emperor Palpatine telling Anakin Skywalker that he loved him. This occurred during the scene where Palpatine reveals he’s a Sith Lord. Anakin questioned Palpatine, saying something along the lines of, “You’re not even going to fight?” Palpatine then responded with, “Fight you?”

Originally, Stover had written the line, “Fight you? Anakin, I love you.” But George Lucas rejected it. Stover believed Lucas removed the line even though he realized Palpatine was only pretending to care for Anakin to control him.

Originally, this line in the script was, ‘Fight you? Anakin, I love you.’ However, George Lucas removed the second part of the sentence when he reviewed it. He did this even though he knew Palpatine was only saying it to trick Anakin.

According to Stover, the explanation, as he remembers it, was that love simply doesn’t fit with the way the dark side thinks.

As far as I remember, the idea was that love is completely foreign to Palpatine’s way of thinking, so he couldn’t understand how someone might believe a lie based on it.

Palpatine likely feigned affection for Anakin as a manipulative tactic, exploiting the Jedi’s weaknesses to convince him to join his schemes. He probably believed showing Anakin kindness would be enough to sway him to his side.

A special 20th anniversary edition of the official novelization of Revenge of the Sith is now available in bookstores. You can also stream the 2005 Lucasfilm film on Disney+.

Why Did George Lucas Remove Revenge of the Sith’s ‘I Love You’ Line?

It’s natural for fans to wonder why George Lucas removed the line “I love you” from the official novelization of Revenge of the Sith.

I always loved how George Lucas let the authors who wrote the novelizations of his Star Wars films add little details and expand on what we saw on screen. Matthew Stover, who did the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, was especially good at this! He didn’t change the story drastically, but he added really interesting context – like giving us a better understanding of why Yoda left Obi-Wan during Order 66. It really enriched the whole experience for me.

Lucas apparently felt this supposed declaration of love didn’t fit Palpatine’s personality. Considering the character, it makes sense why the director would remove that line.

Palpatine manipulated Anakin Skywalker by appealing to his love for his mother and Padmé. He convinced Anakin that gaining the power of the dark side might allow him to prevent Padmé’s death, which he had seen in a vision.

He abandons the Jedi Order because he falls in love with Natalie Portman’s character and believes he can prevent her tragic destiny.

If Palpatine had confessed his affection, it would have shifted the attention away from Padme and onto him. This change would have made Anakin’s reasons for turning to the dark side much more confusing and unclear.

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2025-12-24 09:05