Deleted Scene Reveals Star Wars Could Have Been Darker
It would have ramped up the level of Sith manipulation throughout Anakin's life.
The Star Wars prequel trilogy split fan opinion, with many feeling that it failed to deliver on the characterisation of Palpatine's two previous apprentices. In particular, Count Dooku was an uninspiring and shallow character with very little development and almost no character arc to speak of.
But it seems that Dooku wasn't intended to be such a minor character in the film. In fact, a deleted scene from Episode III reveals that he was intended to have a much deeper and darker impact on the movie.
Scene in question
As revealed in the 2005 book The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith, while Dooku and Anakin were fighting, Palpatine interjected, saying, 'Anakin, he was bragging earlier about how he arranged to have your mother killed by the Tusken Raiders.' Dooku then confirmed the claim before continuing to fight Anakin.
This scene didn't make it onto the DVD or Blu-ray release of the film, so it was probably rejected early on in the production process. But it would have added a layer of complexity, not only to Count Dooku, but to the dynamic between the three characters.
The final cut revealed that the death of Anakin's mother was an accident. While we now know that Palpatine was already keeping an eye on Anakin at the time, nothing in Star Wars canon has ever suggested that he was involved in any way, or that the accident was somehow concocted by a malicious actor.
Bad idea
The deleted scene would have added something to Dooku's character. But it would also have increased the level of Sith manipulation in Anakin's life. This in turn would have diminished his own culpability for the direction he has taken in a way that would have damaged the narrative of so much of Star Wars story.
Had this scene been included, it would have changed everything about Darth Vader's motivations that had been in place almost from the first moment he appeared on screen - and certainly from The Empire Strikes Back, when the backstory began to unfold.
It would also, of course, have fundamentally changed the narrative for both Palpatine and Dooku. And while such a twist might not have seemed out of place for Palpatine, it doesn't feel like it would have worked for Dooku's character.
So while it's an interesting concept, it was pretty much a non-starter from the beginning.