Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission.

Rogue One director on why we'll probably never see the original ending

'They're moments within scenes and threads, and you pull a thread and it all changes'

Clarisse Loughrey

Monday 20 March 2017 12:30 GMT

We've known for a while that there's a bunch of extra Rogue One footage sitting around somewhere - with plenty of glimpses of it cut into the film's various trailers.

Rumours of Disney undertaking massive re-shoots for the film actually turned out to be true; though that news is usually a sign that a production is in major trouble, Rogue One proved the rare beast that actually benefited deeply from its re-shot footage; specifically the film's ending, which has been lauded as a tightly-paced, action-packed finale.

Thanks to both the film's editors and its own director, Gareth Edwards, we have a good idea of what those original scenes contained; specifically near its end, with the trailers showing a cut action scene featuring both Cassian (Diego Luna) and Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) running across Scarif's beaches with the Death Star plans.

Fans inevitably hoped those scenes would make it to the film's home entertainment release, but that hasn't been the case, with Edwards himself tampering any hopes they'll ever make the light of day.

"There's not an individual scene that you can drag and drop and put on a Blu-ray," he told Fandago. "There are little things that would come and go during the process of post-production, but they're not scenes. They're more moments within the scenes or a single shot. So it's impossible to be able to do that, and that's why the decision was made."

[SPOILERS] 13 scenes from Rogue One's trailers cut from the film

Show all 13

1/13[SPOILERS] 13 scenes from Rogue One's trailers cut from the film

[SPOILERS] 13 scenes from Rogue One's trailers cut from the film

'I rebel'

Straight off the bat, that instantly infamous line from Felicity Jones' Jyn Erso - "This is a rebellion, isn't it? I rebel" - is missing from the final cut. Probably a good thing, considering nobody needs Jyn's entire character motivation spelled out in quite such obvious terms.

[SPOILERS] 13 scenes from Rogue One's trailers cut from the film

Moody Orson Krennic

This brilliantly moody shot from the film's teaser never makes it into the final cut, but there's a good chance it was never intended to, having all the hallmarks of footage deliberately shot for the trailer.

Walt Disney Studios

[SPOILERS] 13 scenes from Rogue One's trailers cut from the film

Moody Jyn Erso

The same goes for this look at Jyn Erso in her Imperial disguise, which definitely has the look of a promotional shot to it.

[SPOILERS] 13 scenes from Rogue One's trailers cut from the film

'What will you become?'

The look at Jyn's Imperial outfit coincides with the final line of a cut monologue from Saw Gerrera: "What will you become?" The confusing part here is that Saw is seen with the close-cropped hair he sports only in the prologue scenes, when Jyn is only a child. When she visits him in Jedha, his hair is much fuller and he's sporting a beard. So, was this speech somehow originally delivered to Galen Erso in a cut prologue segment? In the context of Galen's work with the Empire and his later attempts to evade them, Saw's words would make a lot more sense.

[SPOILERS] 13 scenes from Rogue One's trailers cut from the film

And Moody Darth Vader

Potentially another promo shot, considering this was used as the very first reveal of Darth Vader in the trailers.

[SPOILERS] 13 scenes from Rogue One's trailers cut from the film

Krennic and Vader

However, this shot also shows a cut scene between Krennic and Vader, in which the former talks about the "power we are dealing with here".

[SPOILERS] 13 scenes from Rogue One's trailers cut from the film

'The captain says you are a friend. I will not kill you'

K-2SO has many similar lines directed to Jyn throughout the film, but they're a lot less sinister than this one.

[SPOILERS] 13 scenes from Rogue One's trailers cut from the film

Captured rebel pilots

This shot from Jedha is missing. It doesn't exactly add anything to the story, but it's an added touch of grit which sets the tone nicely in the trailers.

[SPOILERS] 13 scenes from Rogue One's trailers cut from the film

'Good.' 'Good.'

A cut moment between Jyn and Cassian, though it's a little hard to tell where this comes from - there's no moment where Jyn sits as co-pilot on the U-wing, since it's usually K-2SO in the seat.

[SPOILERS] 13 scenes from Rogue One's trailers cut from the film

Jyn faces off against a TIE fighter

What's interesting is that this shot of Jyn limping across the Scarif communications tower is, of course, in the final film. It's just that the TIE fighter is entirely absent. Was this a cut moment? Was Krennic piloting that thing? Or was it even just cut into the trailer to keep audiences off the scent?

[SPOILERS] 13 scenes from Rogue One's trailers cut from the film

Krennic on the Scarif beaches

And what about this great shot of Krennic marching amongst the dead? The set-up and lighting seem to imply he survives the initial battle without getting shot by Cassian, and is on the ground when the Death Star destroys Scarif - if that's indeed the source of the glow in the background.

[SPOILERS] 13 scenes from Rogue One's trailers cut from the film

Jyn and Cassian in the Scarif battle

In fact, the trailer footage seems to hint at a drastically different ending, which may point to what exactly got changed during the re-shoots. We see multiple shots of Jyn and Cassian running along the Scarif beach with the Death Star plans. Considering the battle is still in full swing, it suggests the archives and the communications tower may have been separate locations in the original version.

[SPOILERS] 13 scenes from Rogue One's trailers cut from the film

Jyn, Cassian, and K-2SO running through Scarif base

And here, again, we see Cassian, Jyn, and K-2SO running with the data plans through the Scarif base. That means the droid wasn't originally meant to die (or whatever happens to droids) defending the archive room.

"The stuff people talk about, like what they saw in the trailer, they're not scenes you can just put on a DVD. They're moments within scenes and threads, and you pull a thread and it all changes. It was changing the whole time. It's not like there was one version and then there was this other version -- it was like this thing that incrementally evolved constantly through all of post-production and didn't stop until there was a gun at our heads and we were forced to release the movie."

Particularly, the alternate battle scene on Scarif will likely never be seen for the simple reason that, "The visual effects were never finished on it. It's not like there's something sitting somewhere. I feel like making a film is like a sport where someone blows a whistle and that's it -- the score is what it is. And the goal is to win. If I could go back and do the film knowing what I know now, the final film would be completely different."

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story IMAX Featurette

"I'd probably be willing to make Star Wars for the next 10 years and never let go of it -- constantly trying to finesse and find new ideas. But at some point, it stops, and it is the movie. The film that got released, I feel like that is the film, and everything else is just the process of making it."

Rogue One is out on DVD & Blu-ray 10 April.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies