Watch: Trailer For ‘Return Of The Jedi’ As Directed By David Lynch

As you probably know by now, David Lynch was once approached by George Lucas to direct “Return Of The Jedi” before Richard Marquand eventually took the job. In the book “Lynch on Lynch” he said, “I went to meet George Lucas, who had offered me the third ‘Star Wars‘ to direct, and I’ve never even really liked science fiction. I like elements of it, but it needs to be combined with other genres. And, obviously, ‘Star Wars’ was totally George’s thing.”

But did he come close to directing it? “Not close at all,” Lynch said around the time of “Inland Empire,” though he did say Lucas did offer him the job. “I had a meeting with George [Lucas]. I like George. It was his thing. I said, ‘You should direct this. It’s your thing! It’s not my thing.’ ” And Lynch said he called Lucas the next day and turned him down.

Obviously that was never ever going to happen. And why George Lucas ever thought he would is mystifying (though to be fair and to Lucas’ credit, Lynch would go on to direct the sci-fi film “Dune” which would come out the following year in 1984 to kind of disastrous results for Lynch).

You’ll never have that film, nor would you ever want that film—that is, not if you are a “Star Wars” fan, but obviously that would have been an intriguing “what if” for Lynch fans. Hilariously, one Lynch fan recently put together a fake trailer of “David Lynch’s Return of the Jedi,” and it’s as weird and strange as you’d expect. It’s an amusingly faithful rendition of what a nightmarishly sound-designed “Return Of The Jedi” by David Lynch would be. We approve. Would “Star Wars” fans haaaated Lynch’s version had it ever happened? Would it arguably have made the final version (which is kind of dull and for kids) a much more watchable film? We’ll never know, but watch below and let us know what you think regardless.