What is it with people wanting Han to be killed off in Return of the Jedi?
Two reasons. One, I think the finale should have some big sacrifice from one of the characters to make the victory more grounded. Han is one of the most important characters, and we just had a movie dedicated to rescuing him so you’d think he would play a major role in the finale. However, killing Han does ruin the ST. Lando makes the most sense.
I like that “two movies” idea a lot! I think I’d go about it a little differently, namely to allow Vader’s redemption a bit more development and show him trying to fess up to his mistakes. I like your ideas, Outbound Flight, so allow me to build off of them.
I love this!
My one suggestion would be giving Vader a bit of larger presence in Episode IV. Maybe the Empire never realizes that Vader is an insider, so he’s reluctantly beside the Emperor following Maul’s death. The two now have a very cold relationship with both nearly certain the other knows they know. Vader doesn’t think he has the strength to kill the Emperor without Luke. Luke won’t kill the Emperor until Vader turns good. I’d do this because right it now just feels like the Emperor is waiting for Vader and Luke to team up and kill him. It doesn’t make much sense to me why the two would fight while the Emperor watches if they both just want to kill the Emperor.