In general, a story like the Prequels is very hard to write. A “good guy turns evil” script is not easy to pull off in a believable way, especially in only 3 movies. Yeah, the Godfather pulled it off, but that’s why its revered as a classic. Also, Michael Corleone went from a normal every-man to a very unforgiving mafia boss. Anakin has to go from an honorable, likable hero, to a genocidal fascist cyborg in only 3 films. This kind of story is hard to pull off, and I almost wonder if The Phantom Menace was Lucas’ way of unconsciously procrastinating on all that difficult dramatic writing.
Very true. It’s very hard to write a good person becoming a bad person in a way that feels natural, doesn’t feel out of the blue and would make sense in their head, while at the same time making sure you don’t make them pathetic and without agency either by having it feel like they were practically forced into it.
I love yours ideas for the trilogy btw.
Lucas briefly toyed with the idea of a 12-episode saga. Episode I would’ve been the prelude to the Clone Wars trilogy, with Episode V serving as an interquel between the Clone & Star Wars trilogies. That would’ve given us 4-5 films in which to explore Vader’s rise and fall.
What could’ve been. But this is why I’m partial to rewrites/fanedits which jettison the episode numbers altogether.
Where would episode 6 have gone then?
But yeah I’m completely sympathetic to people who want there to be more then 3 films.