Trailer Moments That Were Nowhere To Be Found In Rogue One
There's no denying the first Star Wars spinoff film is a major hit (and a pretty good movie, to boot). But looking back at the early trailers for Rogue One, it's obvious this thing changed a lot during its reportedly extensive reshoots. So what's different?
We combed through those early trailers and watched the theatrical cut (a few times) to figure out exactly which moments didn't add up. Spoiler warning, because we're digging deep into Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Jyn's perp walk
In the early trailers, we heard Mon Mothma talking about Jyn and describing her as "On your own from the age of 15, reckless, aggressive, undisciplined." But that line isn't actually in the movie—probably because it's explained later, when Jyn is talking about her history with Saw Gerrera. The scene that seemed to preface the conversation, where we see Jyn being walked into the Rebel base in handcuffs, was also axed. Apparently that entire sequence landed on the cutting room floor, while Jin's conversation with Mon Mothma was also shortened.
"This is a rebellion, isn't it? I rebel."
Building off the previous scene, the trailers show the Rebel leaders asking Jyn if she can be trusted without her shackles. It obviously looks to be an extension of the scene from the final film when Jyn first meets Mon Mothma, though in the early cut there was apparently quite a bit of distrust to get it started. Jyn's line "This is a rebellion, isn't it? I rebel" was also discarded (along with the little smile it draws from Mon Mothma). Mothma's line about the Rebellion being all that remains to push back against the Empire, and the exposition about an imminent weapons test, also didn't make it in.
"The Captain says you are a friend. I will not kill you."
The new droid K-2SO, played by Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Con Man), is easily one of the breakout stars from Rogue One. He's been reprogrammed in a way that pretty much destroyed his filter, so his sassy attitude comes through with no delay. Not surprisingly, he has most of the good zingers, but the line from the trailer when he says to Jyn "The captain says you are a friend. I will not kill you" is nowhere to be found. The best guess is that they changed up the way she meets K-2SO (in the final cut, he knocks her out when she tries to jailbreak her jailbreak).
Jyn and Saw
This dynamic looks to be one of the biggest changes from the early cuts to the final version. The trailers give Saw a bunch of foreboding lines, including the "What will you become?" monologue in which he's heard asking someone (presumably Jyn) what she'll do when the Empire catches and breaks her. It's scary stuff, but none of it made the film. Jyn also tells him to make a difference in the trailer, which is interesting, because in the final cut it's Saw trying to talk Jyn into joining the Rebellion—not the other way around. It's obvious a lot changed in the final few months of production, but this relationship must've been heavily retooled for that conversation to have happened so differently. Perhaps Saw's role was reduced in the final cut?
The X-Wing pilot perp walk
This looks to be more of a mood-setting shot than anything in the early trailers, as we see stormtroopers walking a few captured X-Wing pilots through the Jedha square. It makes it clear the Empire is taking control, and sets the stakes for the outgunned and outmanned Rebellion, but it didn't actually make the final film. It stands to reason this scene was originally included during the Imperial march through Jedha, before Saw's rebels attack.
Jyn's faceoff with a TIE Fighter
This was easily one of the coolest shots from the early trailers, but it never actually showed up in the film. The scene in the trailers showed Jyn running down a catwalk and coming face-to-face with a TIE fighter. Judging by the setting, it stands to reason this was originally a part of the scene where Jyn is on the roof of the Imperial facility trying to send the Death Star plans out from the satellite dish. In the final film, Krennic tracks her down up there, but it looks like she actually faced a much bigger threat in the original version. It's a shame, because we'd have loved to see how that actually played out.
The race to send the plans was originally different
The Rebel plan to get the Death Star blueprints to the fleet above is a bit complicated. They have to open a connection to the fleet to tell them to take out the force field, so Jyn can eventually use the Imperial satellite to send the plans. But the early footage shows Jyn and Cassian running through the ground battle on the beach (while clearly holding the hard drive with the Death Star plans), which never happens in the film. Best guess is that they originally had to deliver the plans to another building to send them, or escape the planet and take them to the Rebel fleet in person. In the final film, Jyn and Cassian stay in the facility and send the plans via satellite. Regardless, it's another major change that was apparently made late in the game. It makes sense they'd have wanted the two main heroes in on the battlefield action, but having them in the base was a nice change of pace from everyone else in the battle. It at least makes sense why that change could've been made.
Krennic gets his cape dirty
This one almost certainly connects to the alternate third act in which Jyn had to go on the run with the hard drive: one mood-setting shot from the early trailers showed Krennic walking along the beach battlefield with his cape dragging in the dirty water. Of course, he never actually goes down to the ground level, and instead confronts Jyn at the top of the Imperial facility.
Saw Gerrera was much more clean cut in the trailers
The look of Forest Whitaker's Saw Gerrera apparently went through some major changes during the shoot. Early trailers showed Saw as bald, while in the final film he has a massive head of wild hair. Yes, Saw does show up in some scenes set in the past, but judging by the setting (and the scar on his face) this definitely looks to be bald Saw in the modern-day scenes from the final version. For whatever reason, there's no doubt the wild hair is certainly a memorable look.
"There's a 97.6 percent chance of failure"
We're told K-2SO is designed for battle tactic assessment work, and those skills show up several times during the final film. He drops odds of success a few times, though the one from the actual trailer didn't make the movie. The early trailers saw K-2SO say "There's a 97.6 percent chance of failure" to the defector Bodhi, while Cassian tries to laugh it off. K-2SO does do this a lot in the film, but not in this instance. Considering it's a running gag already, it's not a shock that one of them was chopped.
That light-up money shot
One of the most memorable shots from the early trailers wasn't actually in the film. The shot of Jyn looking up while the hallway behind her lights up was a gorgeous shot from an artistic perspective, and it's no surprise it featured prominently in the early trailers, but it didn't make it into the final film. Best guess? It could've been tied into the alternate turn of events where Jyn and Cassian have to take the hard drive somewhere(?), so it no longer fit with the final narrative. Which is a shame, because that's a great shot.
That moody shot of the fallen Jedi statues
It was a staple of the early trailers, showing a small ship fly over some massive Jedi statues that were buried by time and sand long ago. We get a sideways shot of that flyby in the final film, but the straight ahead (and more sweeping) look is nowhere to be seen. This shot ties into the theme of the Empire pillaging the legacy and power of the largely forgotten Jedi, and we honestly prefer the version from the trailer.
More Darth Vader
The early trailers offered up our first peeks at Darth Vader's return (with James Earl Jones back as the voice!), and it's obvious there were at least or two additional Vader scenes that were either retooled or edited out. We see Vader in different settings in the trailer, and there's also another exchange with Krennic that didn't make the final cut. It all begs the question: Why not include as much Vader as possible, y'all?