It's no secret that the Rogue One we all saw in theaters underwent some major reshoots and changes during production. So today
I'm going to talk about everything we currently know about the original version of the story.
Starting with Lyra Erso - Jyn's mother, she was originally planned to be a Jedi in hiding, the timeline would have worked
considering Jyn was born during the first year of The Clone Wars and Lyra died about five years after they ended. The filmmakers decided
Lyra's connection with the Force
might cause audience members to question whether or not Jyn could use the force for the rest of the film.
So instead they changed Lyra to be a believer in the force. In the novel Catalyst
it's clear she can at least sense the force and she is reverent of it, but she has no powers in it.
We were originally going to visit Dantooine to see the base that would have been abandoned by the time of Episode IV,
but it was decided that just keeping all the exposition about the Rebellion on Yavin 4 would be more cost effective
and more exciting to fans considering Dantooine is mostly just fields and farms.
When Riz Ahmed signed on to the movie, he was playing a very different character.
He was still a former Imperial
but his name would have been
Boukun and he would have been an engineer that had been captured by Saw and his men who then developed stockholm syndrome.
In the change from Boukun to Bodhi the character's arc of cowardice to bravery was retained.
The change in his history was made so that his defection was a more personal choice.
He left the Empire because of Galen, not because he was forced to.
It sounds like the biggest changes took place in the third act on Scarif's surface. For example,
whatever happened to that shot on the beach from the trailer.
According to director Gareth Edwards the Citadel and the communications tower were originally split into two separate buildings.
Jyn, Cassian and K2 had to infiltrate the vault and retrieve the plans before getting back outside to meet up with the team and run to
the communications tower to actually transmit the plans. Gareth feared the final sequence was growing
too long, so it was decided to simplify and combine the two buildings to save time.
But since we know Cassian and K2 made it back to the beach, that means they had to have new death scenes.
Some behind-the-scenes footage shows them both dead or dying outside of a door on Scarif.
I'm Guessing that would be outside the communications tower.
Alan Tudyk has actually said that he originally died at the hands of Krennic himself.
I think it's likely that most of the team died at the same location as Chirrut and Baze
holding the door
eventually being cut down by Krennic and his Death Troopers.
Actually speaking of Cassian's death, in the earliest story drafts he and Jyn both survived the battle of Scarif.
They would have been rescued from Scarif by a Rebel ship that would have been chased into Hyperspace by Vader's Star Destroyer.
They would have met up with the Tantive 4, transmitted the plans, and then been destroyed by Vader.
But Jyn and Cassian would have made it to an escape pod that blended in with the wreckage.
According to Gareth this version was written thinking Lucasfilm and Disney would never let them kill all the main characters,
but they asked permission and it was granted, so Jyn and Cassian's fates were sealed.
I haven't read this confirmed anywhere
but I'm pretty sure Saw Gerrera's
partisans were a part of the fight on Scarif at one point, and most of that evidence comes from Moroff.
Behind-the-scenes photos show him as a part of the fight on Scarif and his action figure even comes with a Shoretrooper.
One of the most famous cut scenes from the film is the shot of the TIE Fighter flying up to meet Jyn.
According to Gareth Edwards that shot was never meant to be in the film and was only for marketing purposes.
I'm not sure I buy that but it's the story we've got right now.
The final change we know about is Krennic's death. In the film he's killed by the very weapon he created.
Well, in the original script he actually
escaped Scarif only to be brought before Vader, who then would have killed him for his failures.
It was decided that it would be too unlikely that he would be rescued from the surface of Scarif in the midst of battle
and he was instead left there to die.
Going through all these changes, I think all of them were the right decisions.
Lyra's past as a Jedi would have made people question whether or not Jyn was also force-sensitive.
The simple shot of Jyn with a kyber crystal sparked that exact same debate and it would have been unfair
to the audience to tease something like that if it never became relevant later.
Bodhi's changes wouldn't have been that dramatic, but I really enjoyed the personal struggle
he went through in the film's novelization. I do think it was wise simplifying the ground battle on Scarif even though
I really was looking forward to that run across the beach.
I much prefer Cassians death with Jyn over them dying apart. The story of two people that have trouble trusting
learning to trust each other was well told and having them die together as friends is really touching.
I'm really glad they didn't survive because I always felt the whole crew should die.
And Krennic's death by the Death Star itself is just too poetic to mess with. I love that the beam
directly hits him, like Tarkin knew exactly what he was doing.
But what do you guys think of the changes made to Rouge One? Do you think the changes made for a better story or
would you have liked to see some of the original plans?
Let me know in the comments. If you haven't already, please like this video, subscribe
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As always, thanks for watching and may the force be with you.