The Forgotten Failures Of Star Wars

It's impossible to describe "Star Wars" failures without covering the "Star Wars Holiday Special," even though it's somewhat well-known. Ultimately, it bears mentioning if only to warn new fans away from subjecting themselves to this televised nightmare. CBS aired the "Holiday Special" on November 17, 1978 — a date that lives in "Star Wars" infamy.

The show featured the main cast of "Star Wars" and introduced many new characters, including Boba Fett. It also introduced Chewbacca's family and centered around Life Day, a major holiday celebrated on the Wookiee home planet of Kashyyyk. The "Holiday Special" was made to bridge the gap between "A New Hope" and the as-yet-unreleased "The Empire Strikes Back," but isn't considered canon.

The special is poorly produced, had almost no involvement from George Lucas, and is overly silly. Carrie Fisher had one of the few copies, which she played at the end of parties to get people to leave. Harrison Ford jokingly strangled Conan O'Brien when he brought it up on his show, so that says something about how much the cast despised it, and it was so hated that it's never been officially released to the public.

When they launched "Game of Thrones" in 2011, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss became instantly famous. They had created an incredibly popular and groundbreaking television series, so it's unsurprising that Disney reached out to them to make a deal. In 2018, that's precisely what happened, and the two landed a big deal with the studio to begin the development of a "Star Wars" feature film trilogy.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said at the time (via Deadline), "Their command of complex characters, depth of story, and richness of mythology will break new ground and boldly push 'Star Wars' in ways I find incredibly exciting." Fans were eager to see what the duo would produce, but the project never came to fruition. In 2019, Benioff and Weiss walked away from their deal with Disney due to a conflicting partnership with Netflix.

After the duo departed the House of Mouse, they revealed some plot details of their "Star Wars" pitch to The Hollywood Reporter. The initial film would have been called "The First Jedi" and detailed the origins of the Jedi Order and the creation of the first lightsaber. Disney didn't buy their pitch, as it conflicted with other projects and had something of a title problem, thanks to "The Last Jedi," which had come out shortly before Weiss and Benioff signed their deal.

While Disney released "The Rise of Skywalker" as the ninth movie in the Skywalker Saga, it wasn't the studio's first plan for the film. Initially, Disney hired Colin Trevorrow to direct the film and co-write the script alongside Chris Terrio. The duo wrote "Duel of the Fates" in 2016, and it was considered by those who read it to be dark and bold. Meanwhile, "The Rise of Skywalker" showed Disney's lack of planning, leaving loose plot threads while creating massive plot holes and receiving much scorn from fans.

Had Disney produced "Duel of the Fates" as written, there's a good chance the fans wouldn't have negatively received the Skywalker Saga's finale. The script leaked online in 2020, revealing a more nuanced and deliberate narrative without tons of plot threads and Poe Dameron saying the now-hated phrase, "Somehow, Palpatine returned." Instead, fans would have been treated to characters and references from the entire saga.

Ultimately, Disney passed on Trevorrow and Terrio's work, and they parted ways. Some elements of "Duel of the Fates" made it into "The Rise of Skywalker," but only tangentially, leaving the vast majority of the script's concepts, themes, and characters undeveloped. Trevorrow left his Disney contract in 2017, and the studio hired J.J. Abrams, who developed "The Rise of Skywalker" alongside Terrio and Derek Connolly.

Disney's "Star Wars"-themed park attraction, Galaxy's Edge, offers a variety of interactive experiences, including a workshop to build a lightsaber, a chance to fly the Millennium Falcon, and more. The park was also home to the Galactic Starcruiser, with the "Star Wars"-themed hotel boasting a simulated cruise through space amidst a spectacular live-action, role-playing choose-your-own-adventure story that guests immersed themselves in.

Unfortunately, it was also ridiculously expensive and far too costly for the average fan. The specialized hotel limited guests to only two nights, and for two people, that ran $4,800. Other packages included two adults and a child for $5,299 and three adults and a child for $5,999. While the hotel's unique experience may have warranted the high cost, spending nearly five to six grand on a two-night stay was outside the reach of most people.

The high cost was likely due to the estimated $300 million Disney sunk into the 100-room venture, which lasted less than two years. In 2023, Disney shut the hotel's doors without an explanation. While the "Star Wars" aspects entertained fans, many found the accommodations unfitting for the price tag, as quarters were relatively cramped and windowless to accommodate the spacecraft theme. Additionally, offering only one scenario likely limited guests' interest in returning.

Of the plethora of "Star Wars" games released in the decades since "A New Hope" hit theaters, one of the most beloved is the "Star Wars: Battlefront" series. The first two games released in 2004 and 2005 were wildly popular, so a third entry was almost a foregone conclusion. The games thrust players into combat situations within the franchise's settings while following a campaign narrative and multiplayer action.

Development of "Battlefront III" began in secrecy, but shortly before it was finished, LucasArts pulled the plug. Michael Barclay worked on the game, and in April 2023, he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, "I feel like it's been long enough now to come out and say 'Star Wars Battlefront III' was gonna be legit incredible and the fact it got canceled two yards from the finish line is an absolute crime. Gamers don't know what they were robbed of."

The game was 99% completed and required only bug-fixing when LucasArts halted development. Sadly, the game will likely never be released, as the franchise moved on with a rebooted "Battlefront" in 2015. There's already been a sequel to that game, and by now, whatever development went into "Battlefront III" would be dated by today's standards. Ironically, a third entry in the rebooted "Battlefront" franchise may not be in the cards, due to the disastrous microtransaction-laden debut of "Battlefront II."

Long before Disney unleashed its many live-action "Star Wars" series on Disney+, "Star Wars: Underworld" was poised to dominate TV screens. George Lucas developed the show, revealing plans for it at 2005's Celebration III alongside an announcement related to "The Clone Wars" animated series. A great deal of effort went into the show's development, resulting in nearly 50 fully-written scripts, though none were produced.

Development of "Underworld" ended in 2010 due to budget constraints, and with Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm, it remained dead. "Star Wars: Underworld" was set between "Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope," offering numerous storylines featuring the franchise's many secondary characters that would have shown origin stories, filler tales, and backstories. One episode's plot ultimately became the basis for "Star Wars: Rogue One," so some semblance of the series survived, though very little entered into any production.

After the show was abandoned, test footage and behind-the-scenes material leaked, indicating "Underworld" would have been spectacular but far too expensive to realize. While "Underworld" never manifested, its development helped pave the way for "The Mandalorian" and other franchise shows popular on Disney+.

The "Star Wars" franchise we know and love differs greatly from George Lucas' original plan. His original idea was almost entirely different from "A New Hope," and his initial plan was to expand the Skywalker Saga into 12 movies. He ultimately made the prequel trilogy, but sold the franchise to Disney before he could make the later sequels, although Disney hired Lucas as a creative consultant on "The Force Awakens."

Unfortunately, the filmmakers didn't take Lucas' suggestions, and he ultimately left the project. The sequel trilogy we got was nothing like the one Lucas planned. Lucas didn't fully flesh out his ideas into scripts, but he had outlines, which Paul Duncan revealed in "The Star Wars Archives, Episodes I-III." The films would have explored Luke Skywalker establishing a new Jedi Order while Leia rebuilds the New Republic to become its Supreme Chancellor.

Lucas had additional ideas exploring various characters not found in the sequel films. While it's unclear what specifically pushed Lucas to leave the production of "The Force Awakens," given how different that movie is from the filmmaker's initial plans, it's easy to see where a conflict may have arisen. We'll never get to see Lucas' original intentions on the screen, but thankfully, his franchise endures.