I have an idea for a future PT edit: we will not see the birth of Luke and Leia. In fact, when Obi-Wan returns to the ship after his duel with Anakin, we don’t see a living Padmé at all. The last time we see a living Padmé will be when Anakin Force-chokes her, and we can assume she died after Anakin and Obi-Wan begin their duel. During Anakin’s transformation into Vader, we will not see the childbirth.
We should assume that Padmé died on Mustafar, and that Luke and Leia are just babies whose parents were killed during Order 66. Also, in a future edit for A New Hope, everytime Obi-Wan, Beru, and Owen bring up Luke’s father, they’ll be referring to a different Jedi and not Anakin Skywalker. Also, Luke wouldn’t mention “Skywalker” when he arrives at Leia’s prisoner cell in the Death Star. That way, we can preserve “I am your father” in The Empire Strikes Back without having to make it seem like Anakin and Vader are separate characters.
What do you think? 😃
That might just work! Honestly the biggest flaw in preserving the twist is the OT giving Luke’s name. If you could cut Luke’s line in ANH and redo the Empire crawl to remove his last name, it would actually be a twist.
Even better, cut Padme revealing her pregnancy at all. Maybe the children are conceived a few days before the purge, and Padme survives nine months to give birth? It doesn’t have to be fully explained.