Warner Bros. released the “Snyder Cut” of Justice League directly to HBOMax earlier this year, to less than stellar returns. Still, the film raised an important question. Should studios release the director’s original vision of a movie, if its available? There’s no clear-cut answer to that question. Blade Runner, for example, is often derided for its first cut. (See Harrison Ford’s comments on the subject HERE.) Yet Ridley Scott’s “Director’s Cut” was a far better film than the original release. So what does Lucasfilm do with the Star Wars Lost Cut of the original 1977 film?

First, yes, it exists. We’ve seen bits and pieces of it find their way into the Special Edition release of Star Wars: A New Hope. From encounters between Luke Skywalker and Biggs Darklighter, to (a human) Jabba the Hutt confronting Han Solo in Docking Bay 94, there was a lot of material left on the cutting floor. Some say Marcia Lucas, ex-wife of creator George Lucas, was responsible for saving the film. What else did the Star Wars Lost Cut include?

Examining the Star Wars Lost Cut

Star Wars Lost Cut
The Star Wars Opening Crawl, as originally written. (Image: Lucasfilm Ltd.)

You can see a mini-documentary on Lucas’s original vision for the film above. Admittedly it containss a lot of information we already knew. But…. Did you know that the opening crawl was originally six six full paragraphs long? This is perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the Star Wars Lost Cut, and not just because of its length. The original crawl alone is chocked full of concepts George Lucas and others would go on to use later in the franchise. The name “Bendu,” for example, was one Dave Filoni revisited in Star Wars Rebels. Likewise, “Ashla” is the pseudonym Ahsoka Tano used following Order 66.

The Black Knights of the Sith, who “hunted down and destroyed” the Jedi, of course became the Inquisitors in canon storytelling. We’re sure there’s a touch of the Knights of Ren in the there, too. Yes, it seems that there was a lot that went into the Star Wars Lost Cut. Or, rather, a lot that came out of it… from a certain point of view.

Source: Film Spaced