“I purposely developed themes and ideas and repeat them. And it’s very very clear in the [original and prequel] trilogies that I’m putting the characters in pretty much the same situations, sometimes even using the same dialogue so that the father and son go through pretty much the same experience.
Obviously, Anakin takes a different road than his son takes, so at some of these turning points they go the other way — but it’s been set up for you to almost expect Luke to follow in his father’s footsteps, which leads to a subtle influence which gives the audience a little expectation… “
- [George Lucas, The Phantom Menace DVD commentary track, 2001]