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Lucasfilm Explains Why They Colored Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber Green


While the many lightsaber colors now serve as an indicator of a Force user's class, there used to be a simpler time where the Star Wars franchise had only two color varieties to choose from. During the first two films of the franchise, those who invested in the light side carried blue lightsabers. Those who pledged allegiance to the Dark Side took a more sinister shade such as red.

Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker deviated from the regular color scheme for the first time in Return of the Jedi, schocking fans with his green saber. Ever since then theories have been going around debating on the reasons why Luke's saber took on green rather than blue.

Now, in an interview with Vanity Fair for its 40thStar Wars anniversary edition, Lucasfilm Story Group member Pablo Hidalgo sheds some light on Luke's saber.

"The intent was the lightsaber was going to be blue. In that universe, at that time, as far as anyone knew, lightsabers were red or they were blue. As much as we like to mythologize why it's green and what that all signifies, sometimes there are very pragmatic filmmaking reasons behind these things."

Apparently the studio had trouble depicting blue lightsaber special effects on screen, so they decided to shift to have Luke try out green. With the saber is Luke's go-to-weapon in Return of the Jedi, it made sense for the studio to try out an easier method. The trick worked so well that Lucasfilm began using more green sabers in the franchise.

While it's not as funny a story as Samuel L. Jackson's purple saber, it does shed light on why more lightsaber colors began sprouting in the Star Wars franchise.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi premieres on Dec. 15, 2017.

Read: Rian Johnson Won't Reveal Finn's Potential Force Sensitivity In The Last Jedi

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