"This one will be the darkest of all of them.  Ultimately, I have to tell a story.  So the story comes first.  And I can't really play it to an audience.  The story is what the story is.  There's not much I can do about it.  I can't take a story that's basically very, very dark and make it happy.  Because it's not."

- George Lucas

"The man that Leia called 'Father' in A New Hope was obviously not her father.  He is part of the group that ends up having to fight Darth Vader in Episode III.  The part that I had never really developed was the death of Luke and Leia's mother.  I had a backstory for her in earlier drafts, but it basically didn't survive.  When I got to Jedi I wanted one of the kids to have some kind of memory of her because she's a key figure in the new episodes I'm writing.  But I really debated on whether or not Leia should remember her."

- George Lucas

"Episode III, the final prequel to the original Star Wars, takes place a few years after the end of Episode II and promises to be the darkest of the movies.  Palpatine will declare himself Emperor and seduce Anakin Skywalker to betray all he holds dear for the power of the dark side.  He dons the scary black uniform, transforms into Darth Vader, and aids the Emperor in the extermination of the Jedi Knights.  The Jedi Master Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi escape and try to protect Anakin's wife and children.  They recognize that the twins, Luke and Leia, represent the greatest threat to Vader and, therefore, a glimmer of hope for the galaxy."

internet rumor, 1998