As Rogue One explodes into theaters as the first of the so-called Star Wars anthology films, fans have every reason to rejoice. In short, the movie makes a worthy addition to the Star Wars canon, providing the same kind of fun and thrills that makes the series so wonderful, while still telling an original story of its own. Viewers can also breathe a sigh of relief over the fact that the much-discussed reshoots have not hurt the film. Indeed, it remains a spectacular piece of entertainment.
So just what exactly did Disney add in reshoots, not to mention the extensive extra editing by Tony Gilroy? At this point, viewers can only guess, though the many trailers and TV spots for Rogue One can offer a few clues. A number of prominent scenes and lines of dialogue do not appear in the final cut in the movie. We here at Screen Rant have already begun our dissection and speculation of the trailers, and identified a number of key differences. Have a look, and draw some conclusions of your own.
1. Director Krennic's line about "immeasurable power."
Director Krennic makes for a different kind of Star Wars villain than has yet graced the screen. In fact, in the grand scheme, he has more in common with the Rebels than with his fellow Imperials—a fact actor Ben Mendelsohn uses to his advantage. Despite all his dastardly scheming, Krennic comes off less like a malevolent Darth Vader or cruel Grand Moff Tarkin than a man hired to do a job. Power and greed don’t motivate him. Buying groceries does!
Krennic has some great scenes in the film, and a particularly good one in the trailer that didn’t make it to the final cut. In this deleted scene, Krennic confronts Vader, talking about the immeasurable power handed to the Empire by the Death Star. How the rest of the scene played, or why it ended up excised is anyone’s guess. The scene could have run too long, or Gilroy’s tinkering might have tightened the scene to make Vader come off more intimidating. For a character like Krennic to speak in such a way to Darth Vader…no wonder he ended up getting Force choked! Krennic’s insubordinate attitude, though, only adds to the character’s pathos and intrigue.
2. Director Krennic's beach scene.
One of the most iconic moments of the trailer (if, indeed a trailer can have iconic moments), found the villainous Director Krennic striding through the shallow beach waters of Scarif, his cape billowing in the breeze. Another shot, which looked like part of the same sequence, had Krennic firing his sidearm at Rebel troops. This shot would also appear to coincide with ancillary tie-ins like action figures which note Krennic as a great shot.
Given that, in the final film, Krennic never even makes it to the beaches, staying instead inside the Imperial communications tower to try and thwart Jyn and Cassian, this likely came from an earlier plot sequence that had most of the characters running about on the sand. This probably came from the earlier rough cut of the film which led to a different ending, and to the demise of several main characters. Tony Gilroy’s editing work, along with the extensive reshoots, probably reworked the end to maintain the general plot, but add a note of hope and satisfaction. We’ll dive further into that original ending in a bit.
3. Jyn goes up against a TIE fighter.
Much as Krennic never made it to the beach, Jyn’s struggle to transmit the plans via the Imperial dish tower featured a particularly breathtaking shot in the trailer. In it, Jyn hobbles out to adjust the dish at the control station, only to see a TIE fighter rise up to her level. The shot ends there, so there’s no telling if the spacecraft fired on Jyn. Either way, the TIE never made it into the final cut of the movie, though our heroine’s determined stumble managed to (thankfully).
If we had to guess, this shot also probably appeared in the original ending, which supposedly had a bleaker tone. Our theory posits that the TIE fighter fired on Jyn, wounding her. She probably survived (that would be a brutal way to kill off your main character) long enough to crawl to the main controls and transmit the plans. She also would have died there, alone. In terms of plotting, that doesn’t change much in the broad strokes. It would have created a more depressing end, though, as opposed to the final version that has Jyn confront Krennic, and run off with Cassian.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider