Mace Windu

Mace Windu is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson in the prequel trilogy. Jackson later reprised the role with voice only in the 2008 animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the 2019 sequel film The Rise of Skywalker, whilst Terrence C. Carson voiced the character in other projects, such as The Clone Wars animated television series. The character also appears in various canon and non-canon Star Wars media like books, comics, and video games. In the fictional Star Wars universe, Mace Windu is portrayed as a Jedi Master who sits on the High Council during the final years of the Galactic Republic. He is notable for wielding a unique purple-bladed lightsaber, and is regarded as one of the most powerful Jedi of his time, second only to Yoda. He is a Jedi General of the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars, even as the conflict leads him to question his most firmly held beliefs. Windu develops an antagonistic relationship with Anakin Skywalker, due to his initial opposition to him being trained as a Jedi and later for denying him the rank of Jedi Master, stemming from Anakin's unstable nature and tendency to allow emotions to cloud his judgement. This contributes to Anakin ultimately betraying the Jedi and turning to the dark side of the Force after helping the Sith Lord Darth Sidious kill Windu. Character conception and overview Several early incarnations of the character who would become Mace Windu were developed in George Lucas's original Star Wars drafts as the narrator, Princess Leia's brother and Luke Skywalker's friend. Through the process of redrafting and copyediting, his character was removed from the original trilogy, but was reintroduced in 1994 when Lucas began writing the prequel trilogy. Although his weapon was not seen onscreen until Episode II – Attack of the Clones, action figures released for Episode I – The Phantom Menace paired Mace with a blue lightsaber. During the production of Attack of the Clones, Samuel L. Jackson asked Lucas if his character could wield a purple lightsaber as a way of making the character easily distinguishable in large battle scenes. According to Jackson, the hilt was engraved with "bad motherfucker", a reference to his role in Pulp Fiction; the engraving is not visible in the films.