Character Conception and Overview
Mace Windu is one of the earliest named and created characters in Star Wars history, being the narrator of the original 1973 drafts of the original Star Wars film (later named Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope). Through the process of redrafting and copyediting, his character was removed from the original film and its two successors, but he was reintroduced in 1994 when series creator George Lucas began writing the prequel trilogy.
The search for an actor to play the character ended when Samuel L. Jackson expressed his desire to be in the next film, which the public would later learn was to be dubbed The Phantom Menace. Lucas then offered him the role, which Jackson accepted and thus signed on, but with certain stipulations on the portrayal of his character. Aware that the climax of the prequel trilogy would eventually call for Mace Windu's death, one of the conditions was that his character die in a spectacular fashion, rather than being killed off ingloriously "like some punk".
Also, according to an interview on the Late Show with David Letterman on May 13, 2005, Mace's purple (some actually say 'crimson') lightsaber was a personal request from Jackson to Lucas as a quid pro quo for appearing in the films, as well as a way of making the character unique and easily distinguishable. Jackson, an avid Star Wars fan, especially wanted his own color so that his character could be easily spotted and recognizable in the final battle scene of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones amid all of the other Jedi. This decision on Master Windu's lightsaber color may well have changed the idea of what a Jedi lightsaber should look like with regard to its color.
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