<P> A year after Vader's shocking revelation, Luke leads a rescue attempt to save Han from the gangster Jabba the Hutt . Afterward, Luke returns to Dagobah to complete his Jedi training, only to find the 900 - year - old Yoda on his deathbed . In his last words Yoda confirms that Vader is Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker, and that Luke must confront his father again in order to complete his training . Moments later, the spirit of Obi - Wan reveals to Luke that Leia is his twin sister, but Obi - Wan also insists that Luke must face Vader again . As the Rebels lead an attack on the Death Star II, Luke engages Vader in another lightsaber duel as Emperor Palpatine watches; both Sith Lords intend to turn Luke to the dark side of the Force and take him as their apprentice . </P> <P> By the time Lucas began writing Episode VI in 1981 (then titled Revenge of the Jedi), much had changed . Making Empire Strikes Back was stressful and costly, and Lucas' personal life was disintegrating . Burned out and not wanting to make any more Star Wars films, he vowed that he was done with the series in a May 1983 interview with Time magazine . Lucas' 1981 rough drafts had Darth Vader competing with the Emperor for possession of Luke--and in the second script, the "revised rough draft", Vader became a sympathetic character . Lawrence Kasdan was hired to take over once again and, in these final drafts, Vader was explicitly redeemed and finally unmasked . This change in character would provide a springboard to the "Tragedy of Darth Vader" storyline that underlies the prequels . </P> <P> After losing much of his fortune in a divorce settlement in 1987, George Lucas had no desire to return to Star Wars, and had unofficially canceled the sequel trilogy by the time of Return of the Jedi . At that point, the prequels were only still a series of basic ideas partially pulled from his original drafts of "The Star Wars". Nevertheless, technical advances in the late 1980s and 1990s continued to fascinate Lucas, and he considered that they might make it possible to revisit his 20 - year - old material . The popularity of the franchise was reinvigorated by the Star Wars expanded universe storylines set after the original trilogy films, such as the Thrawn trilogy of novels written by Timothy Zahn and the Dark Empire comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics . Due to the renewed popularity of Star Wars, Lucas saw that there was still a large audience . His children were older, and with the explosion of CGI technology he was now considering returning to directing . </P> <P> The prequel trilogy consists of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, released on May 19, 1999; Episode II: Attack of the Clones, released on May 16, 2002; and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, released on May 19, 2005 . The plot focuses on the fall of the Galactic Republic, as well as the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker's turn to the dark side . </P>

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