With rumours swirling that Lucasfilm is moving forward with a Star Wars TV series in the same vein as Marvel Studios' What If...?, some mind-blowing concept art from Star Wars Battlefront 4 has once again found its way online, and it offers a vastly different take on this Galaxy Far, Far Away.
This wasn't part of the EA series of games, though, and was actually what Free Radical Design had planned for the original Battlefront franchise back in the mid-2000s. This game was ultimately cancelled but had been set to tell a What If...?-style story that presented the Star Wars franchise in a very different light.
For example, in the gallery of concept art which you can check out HERE, there are hundreds of designs with familiar faces looking anything but. Obi-Wan Kenobi, for example, has turned to the Dark Side, as have characters like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and a Chewbacca who never escaped being enslaved.
We also see General Grevious without his robotic body, Count Dooku as a Jedi, and even a Darth Maul who went down a heroic path.
Essentially, everyone who was good is now evil and vice versa (hopefully, the aforementioned TV show will be a little more imaginative if and when it happens).
There are some insanely cool designs, though, including a couple you can see below featuring a Darth Vader who has been redeemed and returned to the side of the angels. The other Vader, however, clearly overthrew Palpatine and became the new Emperor.
Whether it's in an animated series or even another video game, this idea is one Lucasfilm needs to consider revisiting at some point. After all, it would allow the studio to bring back some iconic characters, albeit in ways that fans would never expect (telling a lot of unexpected stories in the process, no doubt).
Animation makes the most sense because it means key roles - such as those originally portrayed by actors who are sadly no longer with us - can be recast and it means there's no limit to the scope of the stories the series could tell. It is just a rumour, though, so we'll see what happens.
Which of these alternate Star Wars designs is your favourite? Again, you can see the full gallery here.