“Star Wars” is full of big ideas, and up until he sold the franchise to Disney, the vast majority of those ideas came from George Lucas. Most are great and fit the galaxy far, far away quite well. Still, with so many concepts coming to fruition, statistically speaking, it only makes sense that some of them missed the mark. One of the most infamous examples of a Lucas creative head-scratcher came from the beloved video game “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed,” which Lucas was very much involved in the development of.
The game centers on Galen Marek (Sam Witwer), aka Starkiller — who could return to canon in numerous ways — Darth Vader’s (Matthew Sloan) secret Sith apprentice and later his rival. In Game Informer #250, former LucasArts staff shared that they actually wanted a name beginning with “Darth” for Marek, seeing as he’s Vader’s Sith learner, instead of calling him Starkiller throughout the game. So, in response, Lucas — potentially using his rigorous character naming process — came up with two names: Darth Icky and Darth Insanius. Those present claimed he wasn’t joking, either, continuing the meeting as normal after tossing out his stunned silence-inducing suggestions. Unsurprisingly, Starkiller remained Starkiller.
In a world where Disney didn’t buy “Star Wars,” George Lucas’ plans for his sequel trilogy became a reality, and he continued to expand the franchise in new and exciting ways, maybe Darth Icky and Darth Insanius would’ve gotten time to shine.
