98 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 followed his uncle into Star Wars: Denis Lawson played the X-wing pilot Wedge Antilles in all three films of the original trilogy.

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

Ian McDiarmid first played the character as an old man in 1983, then came back sixteen years later to play his younger self through all three prequels.

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, while her twin brother is taken to an uncle and aunt on a distant desert world so that the two grow up apart.

In Revenge of the Sith, which command from 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 Mustafar, what does Obi-Wan warn Anakin that he has just before their duel ends?

The high ground: Anakin leaps at him anyway, and a single stroke from Obi-Wan takes his remaining limbs and leaves him to burn beside the lava.

In Revenge of the Sith, which Sith Lord does Anakin execute aboard Grievous's flagship at Palpatine's urging?

Count Dooku: Anakin cuts off both his hands, then beheads him when Palpatine tells him to, a killing that brings him a step closer to the dark side.

In Revenge of the Sith, which Jedi Master does Sidious kill with Force lightning after Anakin cuts off his hand?

Mace Windu has Sidious beaten until Anakin steps in; Samuel L. Jackson had asked Lucas for the Jedi's unique purple lightsaber so he could pick himself out in big battle scenes.

In Revenge of the Sith, where does Padmé give birth to Luke and Leia?

Polis Massa, an obscure planetoid in the Outer Rim, is also where Yoda and Obi-Wan agree to separate the newborn twins and hide them from the Sith.

In Revenge of the Sith, 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.

In Revenge of the Sith, how does Obi-Wan finally kill General Grievous?

Shoots him with his own blaster: Obi-Wan pulls the general's pistol to his hand with the Force, fires into the organs behind the chestplate, then mutters 'So uncivilized.'

Why did George Lucas give General Grievous a hacking cough in Revenge of the Sith?

To show his flawed cyborg body: Lucas saw Grievous as a rough early run at the technology behind Darth Vader, and some of the coughs on the soundtrack are his own, recorded while he was ill.

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 in Revenge of the Sith?

Matthew Wood, the film's supervising sound editor, slipped his own tape in anonymously among the other auditions, and Lucas picked it without knowing whose it was.

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

Cannes hosted the official premiere, out of competition, although charity screenings in nine American cities had already shown the film a few days earlier.

In Revenge of the Sith, how does the Senate respond when Palpatine declares the Galactic Empire?

With thunderous applause: Padmé, watching the cheers, says this is how liberty dies, a bitter line from the senator whose own vote of no confidence once cleared Palpatine's way to power.

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.

Revenge of the Sith's $50 million opening day broke the single-day record held by which film?

Shrek 2 had held the single-day record at $44.8 million; even the Star Wars film's own distributor admitted he never expected a school-day Thursday to reach $50 million.

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

Fox Studios Australia, Sydney, housed the 2003 shoot, and a camera crew was sent to film Mount Etna erupting for the lava planet's backdrops.

For Revenge of the Sith, the limestone mountains of Kashyyyk, the Wookiee homeworld, were filmed in which country?

Thailand: the limestone peaks around Phuket were filmed as empty background plates, and the Wookiees, with Peter Mayhew back as Chewbacca, were composited in afterwards.

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.

In Revenge of the Sith, through which part of the Darth Vader helmet did Hayden Christensen have to look?

The mouthpiece: shoe lifts made Christensen sit so high inside the costume that the eyes were out of reach, and he admitted he 'didn't see much as Vader'.

Which stunt coordinator, who trained the actors for the Revenge of the Sith duel, appears as the Jedi Cin Drallig?

Nick Gillard gave the Jedi his own name in reverse: Cin Drallig is 'Nic Gillard' spelled backwards, with the k left off.

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

Baron Papanoida is Lucas himself, standing outside Palpatine's opera box, and his daughter Katie also appears in the film as the blue-skinned senator Chi Eekway.

Which famous director was brought in as a 'guest director' to help previsualise the climax of Revenge of the Sith?

Steven Spielberg sat in with the animatics team, suggesting ideas for the scenes of clone troopers turning on their Jedi generals and for the final duel.

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

Genevieve O'Reilly lost her lines when Lucas cut the senators' scenes to keep the focus on Anakin, yet she kept the role and returned as Mon Mothma in Rogue One and Andor.

What did Padmé and fellow senators form in a deleted Revenge of the Sith subplot?

An alliance against Palpatine's powers: the cut scenes show Padmé and Mon Mothma rallying worried senators, the first stirrings of the Rebel Alliance, and Lucas dropped them to keep the focus on Anakin.

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

Shaak Ti dies in two deleted scenes: Grievous kills her in one and Anakin, in the Jedi Temple, in the other, and neither made the finished film.

John Williams, busy with Revenge of the Sith and other 2005 scores, passed up which blockbuster that year?

Goblet of Fire: Williams had scored the first three Harry Potter films but could not fit in the fourth, having already committed to four scores for 2005, War of the Worlds and Munich among them.

What is the title of the choral theme John Williams wrote for the final duel in Revenge of the Sith?

Battle of the Heroes plays over Obi-Wan and Anakin's duel, while Duel of the Fates, the theme from the first prequel, returns for Yoda's fight with the Emperor.

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

The London Symphony Orchestra had played on every Star Wars film since 1977, but this was its last: the next film's score was recorded in Los Angeles with freelance players.

Revenge of the Sith's title echoes a 'Revenge' title that which earlier Star Wars film dropped before release?

Return of the Jedi was promoted as Revenge of the Jedi until Lucas decided a Jedi should never seek revenge, by which time thousands of teaser posters had been printed.

Which Revenge of the Sith actor was 81 when he filmed his scenes in 2003?

Christopher Lee, born in May 1922, was enjoying a late revival as two blockbuster villains at once, one in this film and Saruman in The Lord of the Rings.

Which Imperial officer from the original 1977 Star Wars appears briefly in Revenge of the Sith, played by Wayne Pygram?

Wilhuff Tarkin appears near the end, with Wayne Pygram made up in prosthetics to resemble a young Peter Cushing, who had played the part in 1977.

Which New Zealand actress, Oscar-nominated at 13, briefly appears as the Queen of Naboo in Revenge of the Sith?

Keisha Castle-Hughes, the star of Whale Rider, joined the cast as the main shoot was winding down and arrived only the day before filming her scene at Padmé's funeral.

In Revenge of the Sith, which two actors reprise Owen and Beru Lars?

Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse both came back in 2022's Obi-Wan Kenobi, after Edgerton had spent years telling interviewers he wanted to play Owen again in an Obi-Wan story.

Which original-trilogy actor cameos in Revenge of the Sith as Captain Colton, pilot of an Alderaanian starship?

Jeremy Bulloch, the man inside Boba Fett's armour in the original trilogy, came back to Star Wars after 22 years to fly the Alderaanian cruiser that carries Yoda and Obi-Wan.

Which actor plays Commander Cody, the clone officer who turns on Obi-Wan, in Revenge of the Sith?

Temuera Morrison had played Jango Fett, the bounty hunter the clones are copied from, in Attack of the Clones, so his face serves for Commander Cody as well.

Which author wrote the Revenge of the Sith novelization?

Matthew Stover's novelization reached bookshops weeks before the film reached cinemas, and it leaves out the film's battle on Kashyyyk altogether.

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 after Anakin wins the duel?

Kills Obi-Wan, then Palpatine: in the PS2 and Xbox versions Anakin's leap succeeds, and when the Emperor hands him a new red blade he turns it on him and claims the galaxy.

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

The Force Awakens: only The Phantom Menace made it back to cinemas in 3D, in 2012, before Lucasfilm put the next two releases on hold to pour everything into Episode VII.

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.

On Mustafar, what does Vader do to Padmé when he believes she has betrayed him?

Chokes her with the Force: seeing Obi-Wan step off her ship, where he had stowed away, Vader assumes she led him there, and the attack leaves her unconscious.

Which clone unit does Darth Vader lead into the Jedi Temple in Revenge of the Sith?

The 501st: the film never names Vader's blue-marked clones, but its tie-in books called them the 501st Legion after a real fan costuming club founded in 1997.

Which clone captain was freed from Palpatine's kill order when Ahsoka Tano removed his control chip?

Rex: in The Clone Wars finale he resists just long enough to warn Ahsoka, who has the inhibitor chip taken out of his brain, and the two escape their crashing cruiser together.

Why does the Jedi Council seat Anakin at Palpatine's request yet refuse him the rank of Master?

Distrust of the Chancellor: wary of Palpatine's meddling, the Council accepts his nominee but withholds the title, then asks Anakin to spy on his own patron.

At the end of Revenge of the Sith, what are Palpatine and Vader shown supervising?

The Death Star's construction: the skeletal battle station appears as Padmé is laid to rest, tying the prequels to the 1977 original, where the finished weapon is the Empire's great threat.

Which actor says he recorded General Grievous's voice for Revenge of the Sith before union rules ruled him out?

Gary Oldman, a friend of producer Rick McCallum, says union rules stopped Lucas using his recording, though the film's eventual Grievous remembered it as a favour audition that was not chosen.

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

The closing shots on Tatooine: Owen and Beru with baby Luke were filmed in Tunisia in 2000, while the crew was there for Attack of the Clones, to save a return trip for one scene.

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

The Incredibles carried the teaser on most of its prints from its opening day, a day after fan-club members and AOL subscribers had been shown it online.

Which fast-food chain was urged to pull its Revenge of the Sith kids' meal toys because the film was rated PG-13?

Burger King sold the film's toys with its kids' meals and was urged to withdraw them, as McDonald's had been over its Batman Returns Happy Meals in 1992.

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

Silas Carson plays two characters who die in the film: Nute Gunray, cut down by Vader, and the Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi, shot by his own clone troopers.

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.

Early drafts of Revenge of the Sith included which original-trilogy hero as a ten-year-old living on Kashyyyk?

Han Solo was written in as a boy on the Wookiee homeworld, but George Lucas dropped the idea before any actor was cast or a frame was shot.

Darth Vader's transformation scene in Revenge of the Sith pays homage to which classic 1931 horror film?

Frankenstein, in which Boris Karloff's monster is brought to life on a laboratory table, is echoed as the rebuilt Vader rises in his armoured life-support suit.

At ShoWest, George Lucas said he liked to describe Revenge of the Sith as which blockbuster, but in space?

Titanic was his comparison: Lucas warned cinema owners in Las Vegas that the film was a tearjerker, more emotional than the old Star Wars.

Which actor returned, uncredited, to voice the masked Darth Vader in the closing scenes of Revenge of the Sith?

James Earl Jones supplied the voice without a credit while Hayden Christensen wore the suit; asked later whether he had done it, Jones would only say to ask Lucas.

Revenge of the Sith intercuts the Emperor's speech with Vader's killings, echoing the baptism scene of which film?

The Godfather's finale cuts between a christening and a wave of murders ordered by Michael Corleone, the template for crosscutting Palpatine's triumph with Vader's massacre.

At the opera in Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine tells Anakin the legend of which Sith Lord who could cheat death?

Darth Plagueis, Palpatine hints, was murdered in his sleep by his own apprentice, and George Lucas intended the tale of his powers over life to be a lie.

Which candy brand launched a new dark chocolate variety, sold in Darth and Jedi mixes, to promote Revenge of the Sith?

M&M's used the film to debut dark chocolate candies in multi-coloured Darth and Jedi mixes, one of a flood of tie-ins that also included a Vader Mr. Potato Head called Darth Tater.

Christopher Lee shot his Revenge of the Sith scenes in two days because he was needed for which other film series?

The Lord of the Rings needed him for pick-up shots on its final chapter, so Lee squeezed his entire part as the film's doomed Sith apprentice into two days.

A hidden Easter egg on the Revenge of the Sith DVD plays a Yoda and clone trooper music video in which genre?

Hip-hop it is: keying in 1-1-3-8, the number in the title of George Lucas's first feature film, on the options menu plays a clip set to a track by The Roots.

Which actress plays Padmé Amidala, Anakin's secret wife, for the third and final time in Revenge of the Sith?

Natalie Portman was picked for Padmé from more than two hundred actresses who auditioned before the first prequel.

Revenge of the Sith opens with a mission to rescue the captured Chancellor from a flagship orbiting which planet?

Coruscant, the city-covered capital of the Republic, is also where Obi-Wan and Anakin end the rescue by crash-landing the crippled ship.

In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin is haunted by visions of what, as he was before his mother's death?

Padmé dying in childbirth is the nightmare, and Palpatine exploits it by promising that the dark side of the Force can save her life.

A scene cut from Revenge of the Sith, restored on the DVD, shows Yoda arriving to begin his exile on which planet?

Dagobah is where Luke finds him in The Empire Strikes Back; George Lucas trimmed the arrival from cinemas but kept it as an extended scene on the DVD.

Which Muppets performer, the voice of Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear, voices the Jedi Master Yoda in Revenge of the Sith?

Frank Oz had worked Yoda as a puppet in The Empire Strikes Back, but here the Jedi Master is computer-generated; Jim Henson was the first person Lucas approached for the part.

Which actor, over seven feet tall, returned to play Chewbacca alongside Yoda in Revenge of the Sith?

Peter Mayhew, who stood 7 feet 3 inches, found his scenes unusually quiet to film because Yoda was only added digitally afterwards.

At the end of Revenge of the Sith, which droid has its memory erased to protect the Skywalker twins?

C-3PO has his memory wiped as the droids pass to a new owner, Captain Antilles, while R2-D2 is left with his recollections intact.

After being renamed Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith, Anakin is sent to a volcanic planet to kill whom?

The Separatist leaders had been hidden there by General Grievous; Vader kills them while Sidious proclaims himself Emperor before the Senate.

Which visual effects company spent nearly two years creating and compositing the effects for Revenge of the Sith?

Industrial Light & Magic began work while the cameras were still rolling and kept going until weeks before release, using models and practical effects as well as CGI.

A scripted Revenge of the Sith scene, never filmed, had Yoda talk with the ghost of which Jedi played by Liam Neeson?

Qui-Gon Jinn's conversation with Yoda made it into the novelization: Neeson hinted he might appear, but the scene was never shot and he was never recorded.

How does Obi-Wan Kenobi reach the volcanic planet where he confronts Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith?

Hidden aboard Padmé's ship, he emerges only after she has pleaded with her husband, and Vader, believing she has betrayed him, chokes her with the Force.

Fans queued for over a month outside which Hollywood cinema even though it was not showing Revenge of the Sith?

Grauman's Chinese Theatre was a traditional venue for Star Wars films, so the line formed anyway; most of the campers ended up watching at the nearby ArcLight instead.

Footage of which Italian volcano, erupting during production, was used for Revenge of the Sith's lava planet?

Mount Etna happened to erupt while the film was shooting, so camera crews were sent to Sicily and their footage was spliced into the fiery backgrounds.

For the look of Kashyyyk in Revenge of the Sith, the art department drew on which 1978 television production?

The Holiday Special, the 1978 TV show in which Chewbacca's family waits for him at home, was the art department's starting point for the Wookiee world.

Which animated Star Wars series opens with Aftermath, an episode that recreates scenes from Revenge of the Sith?

The Bad Batch begins its story concurrently with the film, then follows a squad of clones through the fallout as the Republic gives way to Imperial rule.

Snow-covered mountains filmed in which European country stand in for Alderaan at the end of Revenge of the Sith?

Switzerland supplied the peaks: landscape footage shot around Grindelwald was combined with a computer-generated city for the planet's first screen appearance since 1977.

Revenge of the Sith's opening-day box-office record fell a year later to which Pirates of the Caribbean sequel?

Dead Man's Chest broke both the opening-day and single-day records in July 2006; Revenge of the Sith had itself taken them from Spider-Man 2 and Shrek 2.

Two extra charity premieres of Revenge of the Sith were held in which California city, George Lucas's hometown?

Modesto hosted its two screenings on a Friday the 13th, a day after charity premieres in nine other American cities, from Seattle to Miami.

Revenge of the Sith held 20th Century Fox's opening-weekend record for a decade until which superhero film beat it?

Deadpool took the studio record in 2016; Revenge of the Sith was the last Star Wars film Fox distributed before Disney bought Lucasfilm.

Weeks after Revenge of the Sith opened, George Lucas received a lifetime achievement award from which organisation?

The American Film Institute gave him its 33rd such award, and Lucas used the occasion to agree openly with critics who called dialogue his weakness.

Zett Jukassa, the young Jedi-in-training in Revenge of the Sith, is played by which relative of George Lucas?

His son Jett took the part, and both of Lucas's daughters appear too: Amanda in a security hologram and Katie as a blue-skinned Pantoran.

General Grievous's voice actor auditioned anonymously for Revenge of the Sith under the initials of which pseudonym?

Alan Smithee, the credit directors once used to disown their work, supplied the initials A.S.; the sound man running the auditions slipped in his own tape and got a call days later.

Additional photography for Revenge of the Sith took place at Shepperton and which English studio in Hertfordshire?

Elstree Studios hosted pick-ups that ran from August 2004 to the end of the following January, while George Lucas was still reworking Anakin's fall to the dark side.

Both newborn Skywalker twins in Revenge of the Sith were played by the infant son of which crew member?

The film editor Roger Barton, who cut the climactic duel, saw his baby son Aidan appear on screen as both Luke and Leia.

Which joke title for Episode III did the official Star Wars website announce as a hoax in spring 2004?

The Creeping Fear was the website's prank; the real title also began as a fan guess, which George Lucas then indirectly confirmed.

Revenge of the Sith's wordless sunset sequence of Anakin and Padmé apart has been likened to which Roman Polanski film?

Rosemary's Baby, in which a husband makes a literal pact with the devil, shares its skylines and lonely interiors with the scene known as the Ruminations sequence.

Which artist, who illustrated the Special Edition posters, painted the theatrical poster for Revenge of the Sith?

Drew Struzan's painting was unveiled two months before release; a teaser poster pairing Darth Vader with Anakin had gone out the previous October.

A new Revenge of the Sith trailer made its television debut in March 2005 during an episode of which teen drama?

The O.C. carried the trailer with an episode called The Mallpisode, and George Lucas himself turned up in a later episode of the show.

Which actress, cut from Revenge of the Sith as a senator, blamed the loss of her role on a Playboy pictorial?

Bai Ling's claim was denied by George Lucas, who said the cut had been made more than a year earlier and that he had removed his own daughter's scenes as well.

A subplot dropped from Revenge of the Sith and reused in The Clone Wars had which character avenging his father's death?

Boba Fett's hunt for the Jedi who killed Jango was moved to the animated series, as was the answer to the mystery of the dead Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas.

Revenge of the Sith was the top-grossing film of its year in the United States, ahead of which runner-up?

The Chronicles of Narnia, in its first film outing, could not catch it in North America, where Revenge of the Sith stayed in cinemas until late October.