Star Wars: The Clone Wars improved Anakin Skywalker’s character and showed how the prequel trilogy could have handled Darth Vader’s origin story better. Released three years after the prequels were over, The Clone Wars was set between Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Unlike the Star Wars: Clone Wars micro-series, The Clone Wars is a canon Star Wars series whose story is supposed to be part of Anakin’s journey. Anakin Skywalker was one of many movie characters to appear in Clone Wars, which also introduced new Star Wars names like Ahsoka Tano.
Ahsoka Tano’s introduction in Star Wars: The Clone Wars is one of the biggest examples of how much the 3D animated series changed the prequels in retrospect. Suddenly, Anakin Skywalker had a Padawan between Episodes II and III. In addition, Clone Wars got to follow Anakin in dozens of missions across the galaxy, all of which explored a different side of the character. Even though some of the best Clone Wars episodes are not about the Jedi from the movies, Anakin-centered episodes were always a highlight of the show.
Clone Wars Told The Anakin Skywalker Story George Lucas’ Prequels Skipped Over
In the original Star Wars movie, Obi-Wan Kenobi describes Anakin Skywalker as “the best starship pilot in the galaxy,” “a cunning warrior,” and “a good friend.” While these elements were part of the Star Wars prequel movies, it was only in Clone Wars that audiences really got to see these three sides of Anakin. That is because Star Wars: The Clone Wars told the story the prequels skipped – Anakin’s time as a Jedi Knight. The Phantom Menace followed a young Anakin who did not even comprehend his powers yet; Attack of the Clones featured Anakin as a Padawan, and Revenge of the Sith saw the birth of Darth Vader.
Clone Wars covers three crucial years in Anakin Skywalker’s life, during which the now Jedi Knight fought countless battles and encountered multiple challenges. Anakin was still learning in Attack of the Clones, whereas Revenge of the Sith was focused on Skywalker’s fall to the dark side. Clone Wars, on the other hand, saw Anakin as a Jedi Night who quickly made a name for himself in the galaxy. During Clone Wars, it becomes clear why Anakin was so special among the Jedi. Clone Wars Anakin can be described as “prime Anakin,” as he was at the height of his skills and was always on a Jedi mission.
By showing who Anakin was as a Jedi before he became a Sith Lord, Clone Wars made the prequels and the original trilogy better. Hayden Christensen’s Anakin explored a more human side of Anakin, which showed that Darth Vader once had emotions and attachments like everyone else. However, Clone Wars’ Anakin Skywalker showed another important part of the character – the confident, respectable Jedi Knight who could have become the future of the Jedi Order. Clone Wars retroactively makes the prequels better, but it also highlights how George Lucas’ prequel trilogy could have been better in many ways when it comes to Anakin’s story.
How The Phantom Menace’s Anakin Origin Story Doomed The Rest Of The Prequels
Clone Wars’ Anakin episodes added a lot to the character and were significantly more engaging than Attack of the Clones. Given that the last movie in the Star Wars prequel trilogy would necessarily deal with Anakin’s fall to the dark side, the ideal scenario would be to have at least one film dedicated to Jedi Knight Anakin in his prime. However, this became impossible once The Phantom Menace began its story 32 years before the events of A New Hope. If Episode I followed a nine-year-old Anakin, Episode II was doomed to follow a relatively young Anakin still learning as a Padawan.
The 10-year time skip between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones means that audiences were only introduced to Hayden Christensen’s version of Anakin in Episode II. With Episode III serving as the end of the prequel trilogy, Attack of the Clones was the only movie to follow a Jedi Anakin from start to finish. Having no movie dedicated to Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, who had been a mythical figure since Return of the Jedi, was a mistake. While humanizing Anakin and making him into an actual character with flaws was the right decision, spending so little time with Jedi Anakin did not work.
By the time Revenge of the Sith happened, not much had been shown of Anakin as a Jedi in the movies. The only thing Attack of the Clones explored was that Anakin felt he could be more powerful and that he could not let go of attachments. George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels focused too much on Anakin’s fall to the dark side and not on establishing who Anakin was beyond his tragedy. This would likely have been different had the Star Wars prequels followed an adult Anakin Skywalker from the start, allowing each movie in the prequel trilogy to show more of Jedi Skywalker.
Clone Wars Is What Attack Of The Clones Should Have Been (To Improve Anakin)
One major change in the Star Wars prequel timeline would have improved George Lucas’ trilogy and made Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the dark side better. Attack of the Clones’ story should have been told in Episode I, which would see then a Padawan Anakin in the early years of his training with Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Naboo crisis from The Phantom Menace and Count Dooku’s story from Attack of the Clones could have been merged into one storyline about the rise of the Separatists. The moments with young Anakin Skywalker and his mother on Tatooine could still have happened in Episode I but as a flashback.
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With Episode I telling Attack of the Clones’ story, Episode II could have been Clone Wars. Instead of saving most of the Clone Wars for a show released three years after Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars could have told at least one major story set during that period in Episode II. Given that “the Clone Wars” were teased in the very first Star Wars movie, skipping most of it in the movies was anticlimactic. The Clone Wars show proved how many great stories could be created during that period, especially with Anakin. Episode II could have been an “extended Clone Wars episode” told as a two-hour movie.
Revenge of the Sith would remain the same movie, except that audiences would now have spent much more time with Jedi Anakin before his fall. Seeing the events of the Clone Wars on screen would also have added to Anakin’s fall to the dark side, explaining why he was losing his faith in the Jedi Order. Of course, this would significantly change the Star Wars prequels as a whole. For example, Qui-Gon Jinn would probably not fit into this version of the prequel trilogy. Interestingly, George Lucas’ original Anakin Skywalker backstory pitch described the events shown in Episode III only and did not mention characters like Qui-Gon or Maul.
Clone Wars had the benefit of releasing after the prequel trilogy was concluded. The series knew what worked and what did not work regarding Anakin in the prequels, allowing it to explore other sides of Skywalker. George Lucas was directly involved with Clone Wars, meaning that the series is as much part of his Star Wars legacy as the prequels were. Fortunately, Star Wars’ transmedia approach has helped combine elements from the live-action movies with other parts of the canon. Therefore, Star Wars: The Clone Wars‘ Anakin is not something that exists outside of “movie Anakin”. Those are supposed to be different chapters in the story of the same character.
