EW Reveals Details on The Rogue One Happy Ending that Never Happened

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will release this Friday in Digital HD (the Blu-ray/DVD will be released on April 4), and Entertainment Weekly has started a series of daily articles revealing interesting new details about the movie leading up to its home release. Today’s article focuses on the movie’s happy ending that no one really liked…

 

 

Entertainment Weekly‘s Anthony Breznican spoke with Rogue One’s original screenwriter, Gary Whitta, who revealed some interesting things about the original version of the story. Although the creative team had a strong desire to show the team’s ultimate sacrifice on screen, they were afraid that Disney might think it was too dark for their brand of Star Wars. Before getting the green light for the darker ending, Whitta explains that there was an alternate, happier ending for at least some of the film’s heroes.

 

“The original instinct was that they should all die…It’s worth it. If you’re going to give your life for anything, give your life for this, to destroy a weapon that going to kill you all anyway. That’s what we always wanted to do. But we never explored it because we were afraid that Disney might not let us do it, that Disney might think it’s too dark for a Star Wars movie or for their brand.” –  Whitta

 

 

In this more kid-friendly version of the story, ex-Imperial pilot Bodhi Rook and the Guardians of the Whills duo Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus did not exist. Jyn was an enlisted sergeant in the rebellion instead of a street rat, and the Cassian-type character went by a different name.

 

“In fact, some of the toys that are sold still say Sgt. Jyn Erso (see image below), that’s who she was, she was a sergeant in the Rebel Alliance. By the time we changed that, some of the toys were already in production. I have a Sgt. Jyn Erso on my desk, even though she’s not a sergeant in the film.” – Whitta

 

 

Granted, even in the happier ending, not everyone made it out unscathed as K2SO still met his demise. However, his human counterparts Jyn and “Cassian” lived to fight another day…

 

“A rebel ship came down and got [Jyn and “Cassian”] off the surface. The transfer of the plans happened later. They jumped away and later [Leia’s] ship came in from Alderaan to help them. The ship-to-ship data transfer happened off Scarif.” – Whitta

 

 

In the original version, Darth Vader still hunted them down and destroyed their ship after the data transfer to the Tantive IV. But, in the last second, the audience would have seen an escape pod with our heroes presumably on board among the wreckage.

 

“They got away in an escape pod just in time. “The pod looked like just another piece of debris.” – Whitta

 

For the full interview with much more interesting tidbits make sure to visit EW.

 

 

What do you think about the original ending to the film? Would it have worked? Or is the darker ending a more fitting exit for the movie’s heroes? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

 

 

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Jordan Pate is Co-Lead Editor and Senior Writer for Star Wars News Net, of which he is also a member of the book and comic review team. He loves all things Star Wars, but when he's not spending time in the galaxy far far away, he might be found in our own galaxy hanging out in Gotham City or at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, NY.

Jordan Pate (Hard Case)

Jordan Pate is Co-Lead Editor and Senior Writer for Star Wars News Net, of which he is also a member of the book and comic review team. He loves all things Star Wars, but when he's not spending time in the galaxy far far away, he might be found in our own galaxy hanging out in Gotham City or at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, NY.

29 thoughts on “EW Reveals Details on The Rogue One Happy Ending that Never Happened

  • March 20, 2017 at 6:41 pm
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    Even so, the ending we got was more suitable for the story. It had to fit the nature of the war in a new light.

    • March 20, 2017 at 11:29 pm
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      I agree.

  • March 20, 2017 at 7:21 pm
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    It’s a first draft. It was changed b/c it needed to be.

  • March 20, 2017 at 7:29 pm
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    im having visual issues. can we have this on the lets say…I don’t know the DVDBlue Rey ?

  • March 20, 2017 at 7:33 pm
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    I wouldnt have minded if they survived. Just because we dont see them in the orginal triology doesnt mean they couldnt have been there or that they needed to be there.
    The Rebel Alliance is huge. A logically you wouldnt keep them all in one area, you would spread them out. So Cssian and Jyn could be on another region of the galaxy doing rebels missions while Luke Han and Leia played their part.

    I actually believe Pheonix Squadron will move away from the main bulk of the Rebellion after Scarif, as a safety percausion . Should the main rebellion be destroyed then the Pheonix Squadron will live on. Thats not to say that none of the Ghost crew perish .

    • March 20, 2017 at 11:29 pm
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      “I wouldn’t have minded if they survived. Just because we don’t see them in the original trilogy doesn’t mean they couldn’t have been there or that they needed to be there.
      The Rebel Alliance is huge.”

      I agree. Mon Mothma isn’t in Episodes IV or V, but she’s in R1.

  • March 20, 2017 at 7:50 pm
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    The ending is fine, but I like the idea of having less characters. It needed more focus on the leads.

  • March 20, 2017 at 8:00 pm
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    They seem to be inching closer and closer to the truth. But it’s pretty clear that “Sergeant Jyn” wasn’t just a first-draft concept. In the early trailers she’s clearly a part of the Alliance — receiving missions, leading troops out of the base with a blaster strapped to her hip, and even piloting the U-wing.

    Part of the reason for the reshoots seems to be overhauling the character of Jyn Erso. Maybe someday we’ll learn why.

    • March 20, 2017 at 8:40 pm
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      I can’t see any reason why they wont just tell us what was the orginal story.

      Its not like R1 was a critical/commercial failure, I dont see how telling the orginal story would affect people perception of the actual canon film.

      • March 20, 2017 at 9:03 pm
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        Because then they’d have to admit the extent of the reshoots, which is something they seem reluctant to do. Changing Jyn from a ranking officer to an untrustworthy criminal is no small feat — it would affect the dynamic of nearly every scene she was in. That’s a ton of reshoots.

    • March 20, 2017 at 11:22 pm
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      Mmmm…I’m not so sure. All of those scenarios could still easily occur even with her as a street rat, and what Whitta says is correct, toys are some of the first things to go into production for a movie (so the toy-makers have to get very early drafts of the script).

      Plus, she’s seen handcuffed in the original teaser for the film.

      • March 21, 2017 at 1:24 am
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        Jyn’s handcuffed in the original trailer because she’s facing discipline for disobeying orders. This is supported by lines like — “I was trained to fight, not stand down.” And — “This is a Rebellion, isn’t it? I rebel.” These are the words of someone who’s looking to fight, not someone who’s completely given up.

        Jyn even enthusiastically recruits Saw Gerrera (“This is our chance to make a real difference!”), while Saw warns her about the dangers of continuing to fight.

        None of this fits with the story of an apathetic criminal who becomes a selfless hero. It does, however, fit with a story about an overzealous sergeant in the Rebel Alliance who’s bent on revenge against the Empire who destroyed her family.

        • March 21, 2017 at 3:14 am
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          “Jyn’s handcuffed in the original trailer because she’s facing discipline for disobeying orders.”

          You’re stretching it.

  • March 20, 2017 at 8:59 pm
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    I thought it was a grown up ending to a grown up story. Leave the saga movies for the kid friendly adventures.

    • March 21, 2017 at 2:10 am
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      OT and PT were kid friendlier in a lot of ways but they weren’t completely kid friendly like TFA.

      • March 21, 2017 at 1:52 pm
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        Uh, Jar Jar begs to differ.

      • March 21, 2017 at 6:01 pm
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        So Han’s death must have been all rainbows and sunshine, right?

  • March 20, 2017 at 9:04 pm
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    Even though Chirrut, Baze and Bodhi were a little underdeveloped I’m still glad that they were in the movie.

  • March 20, 2017 at 9:48 pm
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    I don’t want a Rogue One without Chirrut and Baze.

  • March 20, 2017 at 9:50 pm
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    Maybe this is a lesson in having faith in the original treatment. Pitch the movie warts and all to the studio and let them decide if it’s too dark or not.

  • March 21, 2017 at 2:08 am
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    Always wondered why she was a Sergeant. Only SW film to kill off all the main characters in a single film which is why I think it qualifies as darker than ROTS/TESB combined. I really hope this wasn’t just a fluke and we get more serious Star Wars films in the future, I realize that Han Solo will probably have a bit more comedy given who is directing but please no more TFA style fan service wankery and meta humor from now on. It’s pretty much killed the MCU.

    • March 21, 2017 at 1:51 pm
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      Yeah, that MCU is really struggling /s

      • March 21, 2017 at 6:00 pm
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        Yep. They’ve only had ONE billion dollar movie evry years since MAy of 2015.

        These are dire circumstances.

  • March 21, 2017 at 4:14 am
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    Rogue One is so close to being my favorite SW movie of all. I’ll only know after watching it 100 more times on Blu-ray.

  • March 21, 2017 at 8:42 am
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    The ending we got was stronger, but it must be said that this scenario would have agreed better with what Vader says in A New Hope: “Several transmissions were made to THIS SHIP …” (as opposed to “to the larger ship this ship was docked with”).

  • March 21, 2017 at 6:11 pm
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    I’m okay with all the changes for the most part, as they seemed to serve the story. I don’t buy Edwards’ comments that they can’t release scenes not in the final film because they’re only snippets and not fully completed – the scene running towards the AT-ATs looks very completed to me.

    The only think I don’t like about the revisions is how it affects the way RO and ANH tie together. We really should have seen transmissions that were “beamed aboard” Leia’s Tantive IV. It would have worked better if Vader could have seen the outgoing transmission occur from the Mon Calamari cruiser, without Leia’s ship in actual sight. In other words, he sees a screen with data that indicates to which ship the transmission was made right before he kills everyone on board. Cut to Leia’s ship that’s not at scarif, beginning its mission to go pick up Obi-Wan and get to Alderaan. There was no reason for her ship to be in the Scarif battle.

    Also, C3PO and R2D2 did not need to be on Yavin4 – they just needed to be on the TantiveIV.

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