Although there's some scary stuff in them, the "Star Wars" movies have long had a reputation for being family friendly. The darker side of "Star Wars" was perhaps never more on display than in the 1980 sequel "The Empire Strikes Back." The original "Star Wars" got fans used to the good guys winning in the end no matter the odds, but "Empire" turned that notion on its head. After being tortured, Han Solo is frozen in carbonite and abducted by the bounty hunter Boba Fett. Luke Skywalker abandons his Jedi training to save his captured friends . . . only to lose the battle to Darth Vader (and lose a hand in the process). And of course, there was that huge reveal that Vader was Luke's father.
All in all, it's up there as one of the darkest endings of any "Star Wars" film. But according to Luke Skywalker actor Mark Hamill, "The Empire Strikes Back" originally had an even more "downbeat ending." From the sound of things, the studio was concerned about the tone of the film's final moments, and encouraged an extra scene to "reassure the audience" that not all was lost in the galaxy far, far away.
