Rogue Reshoots: A Star Wars Theory

We all know Rogue One had extensive reshoots, led by Bourne series supremo Tony Gilroy, somewhere between 4 and 6 months, which is more than just a few pick up shots. From the trailers, it is easy to identify scenes that have already been excised from the final cut.

WARNING!!! MASSIVE SPOILERS FOLLOW (So if you haven’t seen Rogue One yet, go away and watch it, now!)

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Everyone dies. All of the new characters we are introduced to in Rogue One die. And although many fans had already surmised this would be the case, as Jyn, Cassian and Krennic etc do not appear in A New Hope. It makes for a powerful and fitting ending, making Rogue One a very different kind of blockbuster, far braver than most. However, the rumours of the reshoots being to lighten up the film prove false, and now appear to have been the exact opposite. We got the grimmest ‘hopeful’ ending to have graced cinemas in a long time.

But was it always that way? I don’t think so. In the film itself, when Jyn is atop the communications tower, desperately trying to transmit the Death Star plans to the Rebel fleet in orbit, her plan is nearly ruined by a Tie Striker blasting out a good section of the bridge and she almost falls. The trailers tell a slightly different story. We see a standard Tie Fighter rise as Jyn limps towards it.

Now, I can’t help but wonder, it looks like a threat but was it something else entirely? A rescue ship, come to save Jyn. Possibly flown by Cassian. Or perhaps a time travelling Poe Dameron and his beautiful face. Either way, this suggests a potentially different outcome for our heroine. It would make for a happier ending but not a better one, still, to kill off everyone seems quite grim and I can see why the filmmakers originally might have wanted something slightly different.

And while we are talking about trailer scenes, one of the most striking early shots we saw was Orson Krennic striding confidently across the Scarif beach, with his cape trailing in the water, the backdrop full of drama. To me this suggest a slightly different outcome for Krennic, perhaps taking a final walk and surveying his machinations coming to an end.

More than that, we clearly see Cassian and Jyn running through the Imperial base, not in their stolen outfits, and we see them outside during the AT-ACT, which substantially changes the last act.

There’s a lot of dialogue missing too, but that’s not uncommon for that to happen. Will we ever really know the full story? There’s a chance some of these scenes ending up on the Blu ray release but I am not convinced, Disney putting alternative sequences and endings out there is tantamount to admitting failure.