The Ending of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was Originally Very Different
Hopefully, by now you’ve all seen Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in theaters, in fact, we hope you’ve seen it multiple times. Today, we learned that that heartwrenching ending was much different in the original draft….
By now, if you haven’t seen Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, then you need to turn back and go no further, as this post will contain SPOILERS. But, if you have seen Rogue One, then you are now very familiar with that ending. You know, where everyone dies attempting to battle the Empire and transmit the Death Star plans to the waiting Rebel Alliance fleet above Scarif.
What if I were to tell you that in the original script for Rogue One, not everyone dies? Would that change your opinion of the film?
Recently, director Gareth Edwards spoke to Empire Magazine (via The Verge) and revealed that his original script didn’t end with the death of our new favorite Star Wars characters:
"Edwards says that after reading the script, the production staff saw only one way out for Jyn and friends. “Everyone read that and there was this feeling of like, ‘They’ve got to die, right?’ And everyone was like, ‘Yeah, can we?’”"
Edwards was worried that Disney would put the nix on killing off major characters in a film that is essentially geared toward a more family friendly audience.
"“We thought we weren’t going to be allowed to but Kathy [Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm] and everyone at Disney were like ‘Yeah it makes sense. I guess they have to because they’re not in A New Hope,’”"
After that, Edwards describes his freedom to end Rogue One the only way it could end as his own “license to kill.”
"“I kept waiting for someone to go, ‘You know what? Could we just film an extra scene where we see Jyn and Cassian, they’re okay and they’re on another planet?’” Edwards says. “And it never came. No one ever gave us that note, so we got to do it.”"
Alas, that was not to be, but there is some part of me that wishes Jyn and Cassian found Kaytoo (to repair later), boarded a ship, and jumped to hyperspace right before the destructive wave from the Death Star’s laser enveloped them all and sent them to the great beyond.
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We want to hear from you: Do you think Rogue One ended perfectly, with everyone dying? Or do you wish one or two of the new characters would have survived? Let us know in the comments below and on social media.