Samuel L Jackson Believes Mace Mindu Survived His Shocking Demise

In all of the prequel films, few of the new characters were as memorable or as popular as the Jedi Master Mace Windu. How much of that is the result of him being played by Samuel L Jackson, one of the most popular actors of all time, is up for debate, but he was one of the few characters who had... character. Sort of. He had a purple lightsaber unlike any other Star Wars characters, and he was portrayed as one of the Jedi's most powerful warriors, both in the dialogue, and his brief fight with the bounty hunter Jango Fett. It was Windu who was the most distrustful of Anakin, and naturally, Windu's death at the hands (er... lightning) of Chancellor Palpatine, AKA Darth Sideous with Anakin's help is the final nail in the coffin for Anakin's journey to the dark side. With Mace being shot out of a window into with the use of Force lightning after Anakin cut his hand, Mace Windu seemed like he was totally kaput.

Well, not according to Samuel L Jackson.

Over the many years since his character's death in 2005's Revenge of the Sith, Jackson has stated that he believes that Windu survived his fall and is in hiding after the Palpatine took over and ruled the galaxy as the new emperor. In a 2016 Twitter post, Jackson said that Jedi can easily survive falls from great heights, and that there is a history of one-handed Jedi.

It is certainly impossible to not grant him the second point (amputations via lightsaber are quite common in every bit of Star Wars media as a good way to severely damage a beloved character without killing them). It is hard to believe that Windu survived a fall from a thousand stories up after having his arm cut off and blasted with powerful Sith lighting for several seconds. His thoughts would likely be more "AAAGRBERLERDPAIN!!" than "Use the Force to slow myself down and land like a dainty feather on the ground instead of a meteorite into the side of a building at two hundred miles an hour."

Great. Now this is starting to sound like a nerd rant.

In any case, in fairness to Jackson, he stated that George Lucas himself signed off on his theory of Windu's survival. Unfortunately, by the time the sequel trilogy of films had arrived, Disney owned the Star Wars property, and they decided not to include Windu in the films. Of course, this doesn't stop them from using Windu in the future in some other facet. He already appeared as a voice in the Force to Rey in The Rise of Skywalker, so it's not like he's never made an appearance. Plus, Disney does have a history of bringing back popular characters in the films, most notably Maul in Solo.

However, if Disney does bring Windu back in some physical fashion, it's likely going to be as a Force ghost or some other being. There was major fan backlash against Leia floating through space like Mary Poppins in The Last Jedi, so it's unlikely that the fandom would accept that Mace Windu somehow survived getting blasted out a window. It could certainly be interesting to see more of the character to get some more depth, as he didn't really get any in the prequel trilogy.

Overall, it's highly unlikely that Windu survived his attack, and now with Disney at the helm of the ship, what George Lucas signed off on before they took over might not mean much. It's obvious why Jackson wants the character to have survived; he gets to be in Star Wars as a character who is cool when done right, but it seems like a stretch. Don't count Mace Windu out of the future of the franchise just yet, but it's highly unlikely to be in the land of the living.

Written By Tommy Durbin

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