10 Star Wars Stories that Would Make Great R-Rated Movies

Since Star Wars takes place in such vast galaxy, it is no surprise that there are an abundance of what kinds of stories can be told. Fans have seen everything from treasure hunts, to epic romances, and of course, the titular wars that play out across various battlefields. One of the downsides of being a fan of this franchise though is that there are so few truly dark storylines on the bigscreen.




Fortunately, other forms of media have picked up the slack from the movies. There are several books, comics, and videogames, all of which depict far darker and more disturbing events than the movies could ever get away with. At the same time, it is a shame that none of them will be adapted for the bigscreen. Some of the best Star Wars content out there comes from these stories which could easily earn an R-rating.


10 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Is a Sith Fantasy Come True


  • Players take control of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, Starkiller.
  • The young Sith Apprentice becomes almost as powerful as Emperor Palpatine.
  • Starkiller was so popular he was almost reintroduced in Star Wars: Rebels.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was the powertrip fans of the series had been wanting forever. The main protagonist, Starkiller, is the secret apprentice of Darth Vader and a character whose strength in the Force rivaled that of Vader. Had his training progressed further, he even had the potential to eclipse Emperor Palpatine. Players get to explore the life of a Sith Apprentice and assassin, becoming an unstoppable juggernaut of raw power as Starkiller tears through anyone foolish enough to stand in his way.


Even though this sounds like a standard game of the 2000s, it still explored the duality of the light and dark sides of the Force. Starkiller was faced with the reality of his master’s true loyalties, begna to question what his place in the galaxy was. The canon ending to the story reveals that Starkiller inadvertently brought together the founders of the Rebel Alliance, a story that was later changed in Star Wars: Rebels. Ironically, that show almost reintroduced him, but later chose Grand Admiral Thrawn as its main villain. This is for the best though, if Starkiller returned, he would need to be the main character of anything he featured in.

9 Dark Disciple Shows the Dangers and Strengths of Falling in Love

Star Wars Dark Disciple book cover with Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Voss

  • Dark Disciple is a love story between Quinlan Vos and Asajj Ventress.
  • Vos ends up falling to the dark side while trying to assassinate Count Dooku.
  • Ventress ends up sacrificing herself to redeem Vos.


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Though technically a love story, Dark Disciple is an exploration about the allure of the dark side and what can cause people to fall into its clutches. It is also a story about redemption, how it is never too late to crawl back out of the hole people have dug themselves into. In the story, Quinlan Vos approaches Ventress to find a way to assassinate Count Dooku, a task entrusted to him by the Jedi Council of all people, further highlighting the moral gray areas the Clone Wars has pushed the Jedi into. Ventress agrees, but as she teaches him how to fight Dooku, the two slowly begin to fall in love.


The storyline is notable for featuring the supposed death of Ventress herself. Realizing that she had led her lover astray and down the path to the dark side, Ventress sacrificed herself to save him. In the end, Vos was left emotionally traumatized by his ordeal as Dooku’s captive and later apprentice, even having killed to Jedi in the course of serving him. The loss of Ventress was the final nail in the coffin, ending the twisted mission for good as the line between light and dark is blurred irreparably for some.

8 Star Wars: Maul: Lockdown Took Advantage of Maul’s Brutality

Darth Maul acts surprised as he's cut in half in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

  • This is a story about Darth Maul infiltrating a highly corrupt prison.
  • It highlights how violent Maul can be, allowing him to cut loose.


This legends novel does not shy away from the gory side of Star Wars. In it, Darth Maul is sent by his master to infiltrate a highly corrupt prison known as Cog Hive Seven. Under the guise of a prisoner, Maul is forced to survive with his wits and bare hands as he struggles to claim the prize Palpatine wants: a nuclear weapon. What makes this novel so special is how brutal its details are, especially in relation to the fight scenes.

These are perhaps some of the best aspects of the story, highlighting the worst trait of the prison: that it forces its inmates to fight in televised deathmatches that are seen across the galaxy. Maul wins his of course, but the book takes advantage of how terrifying a foe he can actually be. There are few times Maul gets to seem like an unstoppable juggernaut of death, and this is one of them.


7 Shatterpoint Highlighted Mace Windu’s Personal Struggles and Losses

Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu in Star Wars

  • Shatterpoint details Mace Windu’s tragic mission to the planet of his birth.
  • He is searching for his missing former student who has fallen to the dark side.
  • In the end, he finds his student, but had to return her to Coruscant in a maddened state.

This novel by Matthew Stover was conceived by the following sentence: “Apocalypse Now with Jedi.” A gritty and dark story if there ever was one, Shatterpoint was a Legends novel detailing Mace Windu’s return to the planet of his birth, Haruun Kal, in search of his missing former Padawan, Depa Billaba. If that name sounds familiar, it is because in canon, she was Kanan Jarrus’ Jedi Master. However, her fate in Shatterpoint is far darker than that of the current lore.


Windu had to infiltrate Haruun Kal, which was occupied by Separatists, and trek through the dangerous jungle, where practically every bit of the natural environment was hostile to him and his companions. In the end, Windu found his former pupil, having lost her mind and succumbed to the Dark Side of the Force. Left with no alternative, Windu dueled her until both were left too injured to continue. Billaba survived, but her frenzied state meant she was kept in a coma until the end of her days. What makes this especially tragic is that this was only a few months into the Clone Wars, further bolstering Windu’s hope that one day Anakin Skywalker, as the Chosen One, would bring balance to the Force, never knowing just how far Anakin would fall before he could fulfill his destiny.

6 Knights of the Old Republic Is One of the Greatest Star Wars Games of All Time


  • Knights of the Old Republic is a classic Star Wars adventure.
  • However, it explores the costs of war and how it can change people.

Knights of the Old Republic became the quintessential Star Wars game when it was first released. An abundance of choices, freedom to explore the various worlds, and a compelling story about a beloved era in the Star Wars timeline, this game had it all. It basically jumpstarted the series of games and add on novels and comics that would later lead to Star Wars: The Old Republic. The game itself also portrayed the real cost of war between the Jedi and Sith on a galactic scale.

Players would be accompanied by and meet those whose lives were ruined by war and learn the perspective of the ordinary person. All the while, the player is sent on a treasure hunt throughout the galaxy to locate a lost superweapon the Sith are using to win the war. It culminates in one of the most important battles in the galaxy’s history, and sets the stage for the next century of conflict. It is without a doubt one of the greatest examples of the what the Jedi were like back before they became so dogmatic.


5 Knights of the Old Republic II Explores the Codes of the Jedi and Sith

Darth Nihilus

  • Knights of the Old Republic II explored the codes of the Jedi and Sith in detail.
  • It also pointed out the flaws in both and how there are ways to survive without the Force.

The darkest aspects of Knights of the Old Republic II are its main antagonists. The Sith Lords who haunt the darkest corners of the galaxy are unlike any seen in previous installments of Star Wars. They are the results of a galaxy traumatized by war, creating three horrifying new figures in the dark side who want varying things: to kill Jedi, to slake their hunger, and to end the Force itself. Knights of the Old Republic II was notable for also examining the philosophy of the Jedi and Sith in more detail.


As time went on, the player is left to wonder if the codes both orders follow are the best path to mastering use of the Force, or merely another failed attempt to find some answer to the higher mysteries of the universe, all the while repeating the same mistakes over and over again. It is a mature examination of Star Wars, one that has plenty of terrifying moments with Sith Lords whose merely physical presence is a horror show all on its own.

4 Darth Bane: The Path of Destruction Established the Origins of the Rule of Two

The Sith Lord Darth Bane

  • In this novel, readers get to learn the origins of the Rule of Two.
  • It also details how Darth Bane manipulated an entire Sith Order into destroying itself.


Darth Bane has already been confirmed as canon thanks to the efforts of Dave Filoni, however, his exact origin story has yet to be told onscreen. Darth Bane was originally a student of the Brotherhood of the Sith, a new incarnation of the Sith philosophy. However, as time passed, Bane became more and more disillusioned by the Brotherhood, viewing them as a twisted reflection of the Jedi. Believing them to be unworthy of the Sith legacy, as well as a pack of utter fools, Bane vowed to destroy them.

The manipulation Bane employed to ensure the Brotherhood destroyed itself was instrumental in wiping any trace of Bane from the galaxy, allowing him to create his Rule of Two in secret. This by far was the most important part of the story: learning how Bane founded the line of Sith that would one day destroy the Jedi Order, something no other incarnation of the Sith had managed to accomplish. The book does not shy away from the horror and violence of the dark side, showing how people get injured and how some lose their mind under the strain of war. Through it all, there is Bane, powering through and creating his new order with wit and determination.


3 Darth Plagueis Explored the Rise and Fall of Its Main Character

Star Wars Darth Plagueis

  • This novel tells the story of Darth Plagueis the Wise.
  • It also reveals the disturbing origins of Darth Sidious.

Any novel told from the perspective of a Sith is bound to be horrific. The novel Darth Plagueis is regarded as some of the best literature to ever come from Star Wars extended lore. It details the rise and fall of one of the greatest Sith Lords to ever live, as well as the true origins of the future Emperor Palpatine. In the novel, fans get to read about the exploits and crimes of Darth Plagueis as he senses the time for the Sith’s revenge is nearly at hand.


His actions not only propel the plot forward, but it also has some of the most disturbing moments in Star Wars’ history. One of the most notable is when a young Palpatine finally allows his inner darkness to be exposed by murdering his entire family with his own hands. It is one of the darkest scenes in the book as every line exposes how depraved Palpatine was right from the start. Most importantly though, it details how Plagueis’ actions ultimately allowed his apprentice to conquer the galaxy, even if his master was robbed of a direct confrontation with the man he trained.

2 Red Harvest Reveals the Origins of the Zombie Virus

Star Wars Red Harvest

  • Red Harvest tells the origins of the Star Wars zombie virus.
  • It takes place in the Old Republic Era.
  • The story only has one survivor.


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This novel details the origins of the disease that would become the focus of Death Troopers. It even takes place in the much-loved Old Republic era of Star Wars. In it, a Jedi Apprentice must survive a zombie infection in a Sith Academy alongside her captor, a bounty hunter hired by the Sith to steal the source of the zombie infection: a Force-sensitive orchid that was later used to create the first instance of the virus.


Ironically, this was meant to achieve immortality, but instead condemned the galaxy to deal with the outbreak of a true zombie virus. Through quick thinking, loss, and no small amount of gore, only the apprentice would manage to get away from the carnage. Though she made the mistaken belief that the threat was over, not realizing how thorough the Sith were in documenting their work. While not as well-known as its predecessor, Red Harvest fills in some much need gaps about the cause of the zombies, but also gave fans of the first book a much anticipated followup featuring more horror in Star Wars.

1 Death Troopers Is a Star Wars Zombie Horror Novel

  • Death Troopers is a true zombie horror story.
  • It’s survivors do not have a happy ending, but a bittersweet one.


This is the book that most Star Wars fans will point to when they talk about a potential R-rated movie concept. Death Troopers is an isolated horror novel set during the Imperial Era. It details the desperate escape attempts of the surviving members of a prison barge after they come into a contact with a Star Destroyer infested with zombies. The story takes advantage of the human aspect of the characters, reminding the reader time and again that they are vulnerable and do not have the powers of a Jedi. Even those with training are not immune to the risk of death.

The story does not end happily either. The true power of a zombie based plot is that death is the true enemy and it will claim many before its work is done. Though some of the crew, including a few famous guest stars, survive and manage to settle, the trauma of what they endured will stay with them forever, as will the memories of those they lost. If there was any Star Wars material that deserved to be turned into a movie for more mature audiences, this is it.


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