To continue the idea of adding gore, extend the scene of Vader helmetless in his pod. His arm is essentially rotting underneath his armor, so several spindly droids are adding additional robotics to his suit. This establishes that he’s falling apart even as he’s climbing the military ladder, and provides a ticking clock to his quest to recruit Luke.

Add many more Wampas to the Wampa lair, so that Luke is forced to flee instead of taking shelter in the cave.

Make the mouth of the asteroid worm more cavelike, with things that look like stalactites and stalagmites instead of teeth. Make the exterior of the beast more eldritch as well, and less like a hand puppet.

Have a ton of small spaceships leaving Cloud City to cover the Falcon’s escape as the evacuation proceeds. The cloud cars hold off the TIE fighters while they rescue Luke, but are destroyed after buying them just enough time.