Barriss Offee's Order 66 Death Was Worse Than Anyone Else's In 'Star Wars'

One of the critiques that Revenge of the Sith had to face was that it had too much content cramped into it. Episode III has a running time of 140 minutes, which makes it the fourth longest of all Star Wars films (with The Last Jedi topping this list with 152 minutes). But the movie could have been even longer, as there are quite a few scenes that were either filmed but later cut, or that were part of the script but then never made it as far as being put in front of a camera. Shaak Ti alone got two different death scenes that were filmed, none of which made it into the final film. If all of these scenes had been finished and included in the movie, Episode III could have been well over four hours long.

Revenge of the Sith is also the darkest of all Star Wars movies (probably followed by Rogue One): the beheading of Count Dooku, Anakin nearly killing his wife in rage, or the limbless and burnt remains of the former Jedi lying beside a river of lava are only a few of the reasons the movie got a PG-13 rating.

And then there is, of course, the epic and tragic montage of Order 66, with Sidious telling various clone commanders to kill their Jedi generals. All of the Republic soldiers follow without hesitation, starting with Commander Cody giving the order to shoot down Obi-Wan (and Boga) on Utapau. The scene then cuts to Mygeeto, showing clones gunning down Ki-Adi-Mundi in cold blood, then moving to Felucia, where Aayla Secura is shot in the back with the clones continuing to fire their blasters at her, even after she has to be dead. Next, we see Yoda on Kashyyyk feeling that something terrible is happening, before we move on to Cato Neimoidia where Plo Koon’s starfighter is shot down by his clone squadron, followed by Saleucami, where Stass Allie is killed while riding a speeder bike, before we finally see Yoda cutting off the heads of the two clones that were about to kill the Jedi master.

But this heartbreaking section of the movie was originally intended to be even longer: Disc 7 of the Blu-ray release of the then-complete saga (2011) includes an animatic titled “Kahyyyk and Order 66 Animatic”– a not fully fleshed out animation, like some of The Clone Wars episodes that were released under the banner of "The Clone Wars Legacy" after the series had ended.

The sequence of events is a bit different than in the final movie, with Stass Allie’s killing shown earlier and cutting back to Yoda several times, but there are also two additional Jedi killings. The first one is that of Quinlan Vos, whose Republic Juggernaut is blasted by another of these vehicles that is driving in front of his own. The second one involves Barriss Offee, and it is probably the cruelest killing of them all.

At the time Episode III was filmed, Barriss wasn’t the disillusioned Padawan and later traitor, but still grounded strongly in the light side. Like Aayla Secura, she is stationed on Felucia when her end comes, but at a different location of the planet than the Twi’lek Jedi. She fights battle droids, when suddenly a Republic All Terrain Tactical Enforcer (AT-TE) approach her from behind. But instead of blasting away B1 battle droids, the clones inside the walker shoot her in the back with all four laser cannons. And just to make sure that she is really dead, the scene ends with the walker putting down one of its feet on the fallen Jedi.

Interestingly, the color of her lightsaber changes from blue to green during this scene, surely a result of the unfinished animation. If this scene had actually been produced, unused footage of Barriss Offee from Episode II where she was portrayed by Nalini Krishan would have been used (combined with a lot of CGI). Offee’s death is also depicted in issue 3 of the Revenge of the Sith comic adaptation, but without her being stomped.

With the end of season 5 of The Clone Wars, Offee’s cruel death has ultimately become non-canon, as it is highly unlikely that she would not only escape her captivity after being arrested for bombing the Jedi Temple, but also return to her Jedi duties afterwards and fight for the Republic. So, the fate of Barriss Offee after the end of the clone wars is still up in the air, as Dave Filoni decided not to kill her by blowing up her own cell. And there are rumors that she might even appear in The Bad Batch series – possibly as an Inquisitor.

Written By Gerald Petschk

Source(s): CBR

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