One of the most striking aspects of the Star Wars universe is how it constructs its timeline. While other major franchises, like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, typically adhere to a chronological order, Star Wars films and series have been moving back and forth in time for years. This is most evident in the prequel trilogy (Episodes 1, 2, and 3) that followed the original trilogy (Episodes 4, 5, and 6).

Even after the previous trilogy, Star Wars continued to move back and forth in time. The franchise's first canonical TV show, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, takes place between Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Films like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story are set between the prequel and original trilogies. All these time travels lead to Star Wars frequently presenting surprise plot twists that allow for retcons and time jumps.

Among all the surprise plot twists in Star Wars, the most iconic and memorable is the fact that Darth Vader is actually Anakin Skywalker, the father of Luke Skywalker. This revelation has had a significant impact not only within Star Wars but across Hollywood as a whole. However, there is often an overlooked detail that makes this surprise even more astonishing.

While it is true that the surprise of Darth Vader being Luke's father has become a standard for the franchise, this was not initially planned. George Lucas and many others did not intend for the Skywalker family to have such a twist because they thought A New Hope would be a standalone film. Mark Hamill had sworn to keep the true parentage of Luke a secret, and Harrison Ford's joking frustration about not being part of this secret shows that this decision was made quite late in the process.