59 Fun Facts About Revenge of the Sith

In which year was Revenge of the Sith released in cinemas?

2005: Revenge of the Sith opened in the United States on May 19, 2005, closing the prequel trilogy 28 years after the original Star Wars (1977).

Who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith?

Ewan McGregor played Obi-Wan in all three prequels, taking over the part Alec Guinness originated, and returned to it in the 2022 Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Which actor plays Chancellor Palpatine, secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious?

Ian McDiarmid first played the Emperor in Return of the Jedi (1983) and returned as the younger Palpatine in all three prequels, then again in The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

In Revenge of the Sith, which senator, played by Jimmy Smits, takes baby Leia home to Alderaan?

Bail Organa raises Leia as his own daughter; Smits had joined the saga in Attack of the Clones.

Which command, issued by Sidious, turns the clone troopers against their Jedi generals?

Order 66: Palpatine's 'Execute Order 66' triggers the clones' programmed betrayal, killing Jedi across the galaxy; in The Clone Wars canon the trigger is an inhibitor chip implanted in every clone.

On which volcanic planet do Obi-Wan and Anakin fight their climactic duel?

Mustafar: the lava planet where Obi-Wan leaves Anakin maimed and burning; the DVD documentary Within a Minute traces the work behind under a minute of the duel.

Which Sith Lord does Anakin execute aboard Grievous's flagship at Palpatine's urging?

Count Dooku: disarmed by Anakin aboard the Invisible Hand, Christopher Lee's Sith Lord is beheaded with two lightsabers when Palpatine says 'Do it', a killing Anakin immediately regrets.

Which Jedi Master does Sidious kill with Force lightning after Anakin cuts off his hand?

Mace Windu, played by Samuel L. Jackson, has Sidious at his mercy until Anakin severs his sword hand; Jackson had asked for a purple lightsaber to spot himself in Attack of the Clones' Geonosis battle.

Where does Padmé give birth to Luke and Leia?

Polis Massa, a medical outpost on a remote asteroid, is where Padmé dies after delivering Luke and Leia and where Yoda, Obi-Wan and Bail Organa decide to hide the twins.

Obi-Wan tracks General Grievous to which sinkhole planet?

Utapau, a world of vast sinkholes, is where Obi-Wan rides the lizard Boga to confront Grievous; Bruce Spence, Mad Max 2's Gyro Captain, plays its administrator Tion Medon.

How does Obi-Wan finally kill General Grievous?

The Jedi pulls the general's DT-57 pistol to himself with the Force and fires into the organs behind the chestplate, then mutters 'So uncivilized.'

How many lightsabers can General Grievous wield at once?

Four: each mechanical arm splits in two, and the blades were trophies taken from Jedi he had killed.

Why did George Lucas ask for General Grievous to have a hacking cough?

The wheeze was Lucas's idea, and the voice actor gave it an Eastern European accent to match.

General Grievous first appeared not in Episode III but in which earlier production?

The 2003 Clone Wars microseries: Grievous debuted in Chapter 20, the second-season finale of Genndy Tartakovsky's Cartoon Network series, aired in 2004 to set him up for the film.

Which member of the Star Wars voice cast provides General Grievous's voice?

Wood was Skywalker Sound's supervising sound editor and got the part after submitting an anonymous audition tape.

At which festival did Revenge of the Sith have its official premiere, out of competition?

Cannes: the film screened out of competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival on May 15, four days before its May 19 US release.

Roughly what was the film's production budget?

$113 million: the reported production budget, against a worldwide gross of about $850 million in the original 2005 run.

Where in 2005's worldwide box-office rankings did Revenge of the Sith finish?

Second: it topped the 2005 US box office but worldwide finished behind Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, about $896 million to $848 million.

What did Revenge of the Sith take on its record-setting Thursday opening day?

$50 million: the May 19, 2005 opening day was then the biggest Thursday gross ever, on the way to a $108 million Friday-to-Sunday weekend.

Where were the soundstage scenes of Revenge of the Sith principally filmed?

Fox Studios Australia in Sydney hosted principal photography from June 30 to September 17, 2003, with pick-ups at Shepperton and Elstree in England in 2004 and 2005.

The limestone mountains of Kashyyyk, the Wookiee homeworld, were filmed in which country?

Thailand: the Kashyyyk background plates were shot among the limestone karsts around Phuket, with Peter Mayhew returning as Chewbacca in front of them.

How many visual-effects shots does Revenge of the Sith contain, then a world record?

2,151: Industrial Light & Magic's shot count was then the most for any film, with nearly every frame of the 140-minute picture carrying digital work.

Roughly how much weight did Hayden Christensen gain to play Anakin in the film?

25 lb: three months with a Sydney trainer and six meals a day took Christensen from about 160 to 185 pounds so he could fill out Vader's armour.

Through which part of the Darth Vader helmet did Hayden Christensen have to look while wearing the suit?

The mouthpiece: Christensen said he could see nothing through the helmet's eye lenses and had to peer out through the mouth grille; the suit was built with lifts to push the six-footer toward Vader's height.

Which stunt coordinator, who trained the actors for the duel, appears on screen as the Jedi Cin Drallig?

Nick Gillard, the prequels' stunt coordinator, plays Cin Drallig, whose name is 'Nic Gillard' backwards; the Temple security hologram shows Anakin cutting him down.

George Lucas makes a cameo in Revenge of the Sith as which blue-faced alien?

Baron Papanoida: Lucas appears blue-faced outside the Coruscant opera house, with his daughter Katie as the Baron's daughter Chi Eekway beside him.

Which famous director was brought in as a 'guest director' to help previsualise the film's climax?

Steven Spielberg worked with the animatics team as an uncredited 'guest director' on previs for the Mustafar duel and the Utapau chase after Grievous.

Which actress plays Mon Mothma in Revenge of the Sith, though her only speaking scene was cut?

Genevieve O'Reilly's only Mon Mothma scene was cut, leaving her silent in the film; she finally spoke the part in Rogue One (2016) and went on to co-lead Andor (2022).

A deleted subplot showed Padmé and a group of fellow senators forming which kind of group?

An alliance against Palpatine's emergency powers: the deleted 'Delegation of 2,000' scenes show Padmé, Bail Organa and Mon Mothma organising senators against the Chancellor, the seed of the Rebellion; they survive as DVD extras.

Which Jedi Master is killed by General Grievous in a deleted scene included on the DVD?

Shaak Ti: in a scene cut from the film, Grievous kills the Togruta Jedi Master in front of Obi-Wan and Anakin aboard the Invisible Hand; the DVD includes it as a deleted scene.

John Williams dropped out of scoring which other 2005 blockbuster so he could write Revenge of the Sith?

Goblet of Fire: Williams, who scored the first three Potter films, handed the fourth to Patrick Doyle; he still wrote War of the Worlds, Munich and Memoirs of a Geisha in 2005.

What is the title of the choral theme John Williams wrote for the Obi-Wan and Anakin duel?

Battle of the Heroes: Lucas asked Williams for a tragic counterpart to The Phantom Menace's Duel of the Fates, and it underscores the Mustafar duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin.

Which ensemble recorded the Revenge of the Sith score at Abbey Road in February 2005?

The London Symphony Orchestra, which had recorded every Star Wars score since 1977, played the sessions at Abbey Road Studios, joined by the choir London Voices.

Which earlier Star Wars film was first announced under the title 'Revenge of the Jedi'?

Return of the Jedi was marketed as Revenge of the Jedi until early 1983, when Lucas changed it because a true Jedi would not seek revenge; Revenge of the Sith echoes the dropped title.

How old was Christopher Lee when he filmed his Revenge of the Sith scenes in 2003?

81: Lee, born on 27 May 1922, shot his Count Dooku scenes in Sydney in mid-2003, with stuntman Kyle Rowling doubling him for the lightsaber work.

Which future Death Star commander appears briefly in the film, played by Wayne Pygram?

Wilhuff Tarkin, played under prosthetics by Farscape's Wayne Pygram, appears as a younger Governor in the film's closing minutes; Peter Cushing played him in A New Hope.

Which Whale Rider star briefly appears as Queen Apailana of Naboo at Padmé's funeral?

Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar-nominated for Whale Rider at 13, the youngest Best Actress nominee until Quvenzhané Wallis in 2013, plays Queen Apailana at Padmé's funeral.

Which pair of actors reprise Owen and Beru Lars, who receive baby Luke on Tatooine?

Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse, who debuted as Owen and Beru in Attack of the Clones, returned to the roles in the 2022 Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Which original-trilogy actor cameos as Captain Colton, pilot of the corvette Tantive III?

Jeremy Bulloch, the man in Boba Fett's armour in the original trilogy, plays Captain Colton, pilot of Bail Organa's Alderaanian corvette in the film's final scenes.

Which actor plays Commander Cody and every other clone trooper in the film?

Temuera Morrison, who played the clone template Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones, plays and voices Commander Cody and every clone trooper; Dee Bradley Baker voices them in the animated series.

Which author wrote the Revenge of the Sith novelization, widely rated the best of the film tie-ins?

Matthew Stover, who had written the Legends novels Traitor and Shatterpoint, wrote the novelization, published by Del Rey in April 2005 ahead of the film's release.

In April 2014 the Revenge of the Sith novel was reclassified under which label?

Star Wars Legends: on April 25, 2014 Lucasfilm rebranded the old Expanded Universe as Legends and declared it non-canon, clearing the way for the sequel trilogy's own stories.

In the Revenge of the Sith video game's alternate ending, what happens if the player wins the final duel as Vader?

Kills Obi-Wan, then Palpatine: in the PS2 and Xbox game by The Collective, a victorious Anakin strikes down Obi-Wan, then kills the arriving Palpatine and claims the galaxy for himself.

A 3D re-release of Revenge of the Sith was cancelled in January 2013 so Lucasfilm could focus on what?

The Force Awakens: in January 2013 Lucasfilm shelved the 3D releases of Episodes II and III to concentrate on Episode VII, which reached cinemas in December 2015.

In which month of 2025 did Revenge of the Sith return to cinemas for its 20th anniversary?

April: the 20th-anniversary re-release opened on April 25, 2025, taking about $25 million in its first US weekend, two decades after the film's May 2005 debut.

What score does Revenge of the Sith hold on Metacritic?

68: Metacritic's weighted average, in its 'generally favorable' band and the highest of the prequels, ahead of Attack of the Clones (54) and The Phantom Menace (51).

Which battalion does Vader lead into the Jedi Temple in the attack later named Operation Knightfall?

The 501st: Vader's clone legion, 'Vader's Fist', took its number from the real-world 501st Legion costuming club founded in 1997, a tribute by Lucasfilm that the 2005 Battlefront II game made official.

Which clone captain survived Order 66 because Ahsoka Tano removed his control chip?

Rex: in The Clone Wars' 2020 finale Ahsoka removes Captain Rex's inhibitor chip mid-Order 66, and the two escape the crashing Venator together.

In Revenge of the Sith, why does the Jedi Council deny Anakin the rank of Master after Palpatine seats him on it?

Distrust of the Chancellor; the Council then asks Anakin to spy on Palpatine, which does more to push him toward the dark side than any Sith speech.

As Padmé's funeral takes place on Naboo at the end of Revenge of the Sith, what are Palpatine and Vader shown supervising?

The Death Star's construction; the skeletal battle station ties the prequels to A New Hope and gives Tarkin his first look at his future command.

Which actor was reportedly approached in 2004 to voice Grievous before quitting over union rules?

Gary Oldman: 2004 reports said he had agreed to voice Grievous as a favour to producer Rick McCallum but withdrew because the film was made outside the Screen Actors Guild.

Which part of Revenge of the Sith was filmed first, back in 2000 during the shoot for Attack of the Clones?

The closing shots on Tatooine: Owen and Beru holding baby Luke against the twin sunset were shot in Tunisia in 2000 during Attack of the Clones' production, five years before release.

The first Revenge of the Sith trailer debuted in cinemas in November 2004 with which film?

The Incredibles: the teaser trailer was attached to Pixar's film from November 5, 2004, and The Incredibles later beat Revenge of the Sith as the best-selling DVD of 2005.

Which fast-food chain's Revenge of the Sith kids' meal toys drew recall calls because of the film's PG-13 rating?

Burger King ran the film's kids' meal promotion and drew criticism for marketing a PG-13 film to children, as McDonald's had with Batman Returns Happy Meals in 1992.

Who plays Nute Gunray, the Trade Federation viceroy, in Revenge of the Sith?

Silas Carson voiced and played Nute Gunray in all three prequels and also played the Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi, who is shot by his own clones on Mygeeto.

In which month of 2005 was Revenge of the Sith released on DVD?

November: the DVD arrived on November 1, 2005, carrying the documentary Within a Minute about the Mustafar duel and the deleted Delegation of 2,000 scenes.

George Lucas said Revenge of the Sith's story was written during, and shaped by, which conflict rather than the Iraq War?

The Vietnam War; some American conservatives had called for a boycott, reading the film as a swipe at the Bush administration.

Revenge of the Sith received a single Oscar nomination, and not for its effects; in which category?

Best Makeup: Dave Elsey and Nikki Gooley were nominated, losing to The Chronicles of Narnia, while the visual effects went unrecognised by the Academy for the first time in the saga.

Which 2006 award did Revenge of the Sith win as Best Science Fiction Film?

Saturn Award: the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films named Revenge of the Sith Best Science Fiction Film at its 2006 ceremony; that year's Hugo went instead to Serenity.