George Lucas Explains Why There Weren’t That Much Jedi in Star Wars Original Trilogy

Star Wars fans might assume that Jedi become scarce during the original trilogy because of Order 66, however, it seems like George Lucas has a different explanation as to why there aren't any Jedi fighting together with the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars: A New Hope.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars showrunner Dave Filoni just recently spoke in an interview with Deadline to talk about Ahsoka Tano's future in the franchise and it seems like the discussion came to the missing Jedi in the Star Wars original trilogy. Order 66 had marked a significant turn in The Clone Wars, and it seems like the supervising director had many talks with Star Wars creator George Lucas over the fall of the Jedi.

According to Lucas, Order 66 didn't kill all of the Jedi. The reason why the Jedi disappeared after Order 66 was because of the guilt they felt after failing to protect the Republic.

"It also spoke to something that I discussed with George (Lucas) over the years as far as the aftermath of the Clone Wars. The reason why we never saw too many Jedis fighting against the empire is the fact that a lot of them felt that they failed in their goal to protect the Republic, and they were all deceived," Filoni told Deadline.

Of course, the Jedi didn't just sit around in their guilt and their shame. It turns out that they decided to set on a different path towards saving the Galaxy.

"And so a lot of them realized that fighting a war maybe isn't the best way and created violence. They set their sabers down, they tried to find different paths to helping people than perhaps, you know, being violent, and so there is an old idea there," the Star Wars showrunner continued.

Perhaps Lucasfilm could feature more of these surviving Jedi in a new Disney+ series, or perhaps in a feature film.

Let's wait and see.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is currently streaming on Disney+.

Read: Why Star Wars: The Clone Wars Didn't Properly Cross Over With Revenge of the Sith