Mace Windu was introduced in the Star Wars prequels, where he also met his fate after being attacked by Sheev Palpatine, but what happened to his body? The Star Wars universe has become one of the most profitable franchises in the entertainment business, with films, TV shows, video games, and a lot of merchandise. Star Wars is best known for its film saga, which began in 1977 with the film now known as Star Wars: A New Hope, and which along with the sequels Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, forms the “original trilogy”.

Years later, George Lucas decided to expand the Star Wars universe with a prequel trilogy, which explored the backstory of Anakin Skywalker from his days as a young slave in Tatooine, to his rise as powerful Sith lord Darth Vader. The prequels featured some characters fans met in the original trilogy, such as the Emperor and Obi-Wan Kenobi, as well as new ones who didn’t get to live past these films. One of those is Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson), Jedi Master and member of the Jedi High Council. Windu made his first appearance in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace and died in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith during a duel against Palpatine.

Windu was suspicious of Palpatine’s decision to appoint Anakin as his representative on the Jedi High Council, and warned his colleagues that pairing Anakin with Palpatine was dangerous. After discovering Palpatine’s true identity, Windu and three other Jedi Masters confronted him and tried to arrest him, but Palpatine fought back, killing the other masters. Windu managed to disarm Palpatine, but Anakin, who at this point believed Palpatine was the only one with the power to save Padmé, defended him instead of Windu. Anakin severed Windu’s arm before he could kill Palpatine, which allowed the Emperor to unleash a torrent of Force lightning that sent Windu plummeting to his death. After that, nothing more was said or shown about Windu in the Star Wars saga, and what happened to his body is a mystery.


In Star Wars canon, there hasn’t been any information on what happened to Windu’s body, with Jackson and Lucas going as far as to say they believe he survived. Some fans came up with theories on how Windu survived and what he has been up to since, even suggesting Snoke was actually Windu (this, of course, before the revelation of Snoke being a creation of Palpatine). Star Wars Legends doesn’t offer an answer either, but at some point, his broken lightsaber was sold to Senator Sano Sauro by Duros, who claimed to have found it on a street in the lower levels of Coruscant.

Windu’s final “appearance” in the Star Wars saga was in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, as one of the voices of past Jedi who aided Rey on her battle against the resurrected Darth Sidious. What happened to Mace Windu’s body will remain a mystery until Lucas decides to give a proper explanation, and even though he and Jackson at some point believed Windu could be alive, truth is that he was so weak from the force lightning attack that it’s highly unlikely he could have survived the fall. As for the body, there were other major things happening around that the team behind Star Wars probably thought showing his funeral wouldn’t have been worth the time.