Jyn’s Rescue, the meeting of K-2SO changed.
There’s no denying there have been some reshoots and massive narrative shifting here. In the trailers, K-2SO doesn’t even meet Jyn until they are on Jedha a good 35 minutes into the film. He says to her, “The captain says you are a friend. I will not kill you.” She responds with “[Gee], thanks,” and it’s clearly their introduction to each other.
However, in the finished movie, it’s radically different. K-2SO is the one that rescues her right at the beginning of the film and by the time they are on Jedha, their bickering, at-odds-with-one-another dynamic is at its height (their arc of nemesis, then frenemies and then mutually respecting allies is one of the best relationships in the film). This would mean that prior to the reshoots, another character rescues Jyn. Maybe Cassian? Maybe a minor supporting Rebel character like Sergeant Melshi (Duncan Pow), who is actually in the scene asking her if she “wants to get out of here”?
Considering the trio of Cassian, Jyn and K-2SO is the group that flies to Jedha together in the finished film, this signifies a major shift in the original narrative as presented in the trailers. Perhaps it’s Cassian and Jyn who travel to Jedha together and K-2SO meets them on the Mecca moon? If so, that means all the Jyn and K-2SO banter is completely gone and there would need to be major reshoots for everything after Jyn receives her orders from the Rebel Alliance to landing on Jedha and seeking out Saw Gerrera’s insurgents. Disney was reportedly hoping to lighten the tone of the film, so it’s conceivable they moved up K-2So’s introduction so the heroine/robot schism would introduce some comedic relief into the film sooner (up until the robot’s appearance, ‘Rogue One’ is pretty grim).
The ending is totally changed.
Remember when it was reported that the ending of the film had to be fixed? They changed it, all right. In the final version, Jyn and Cassian find and steal the Death Star plans and then climb the main data tower in order to transmit the plans to the Rebel Alliance.
In the trailers: However, what we’ve seen from the various trailers and the early photos from “Star Wars Celebration” is radically different. There are many shots of Jyn and Cassian running with the hard drive through the base, into the water and beach head of the planet Scarif, towards the AT-AT walkers. In fact, nearly every scene of the Rogue One team running through the waters of Scarif has been excised from the final film.
Presumably they are trying to make a break for their ship and fly back to safety? If they’re running with the hard drive, then there’s no point in climbing the transmission tower, and that points towards a totally different ending, or at least a different third-act battle (it was likely always going to lead to Princess Leia regardless). Moreover, there are plenty of shots of Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) walking through the shallows on the beach — shots that aren’t in the final movie. So perhaps the Krennic/Jyn faceoff took place on the beach/jungles of Scarif and then in the reshoots and reworking of the film, they decided to switch things up.
Krennic Meeting Vader
In the trailer, Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) says to Darth Vader, “The power that we are dealing with here is immeasurable!” But both of them appear to be on the Death Star or a Star Destroyer. In the final movie, when Krennic goes to visit Darth Vader at his castle in Mustafar — the lava planet featured in ‘Revenge Of The Sith‘ where Anakin got royally fucked up — their entire conversation takes place outside the base. An unimpressed Vader doesn’t even invite him inside for space tea. One might argue the trailer version of Krennic is even more arrogant than the one in the film (he takes a nervous first gulp when he first meets Vader). Clearly their original meeting is much different and perhaps the entire sequence of Krennic going behind Moff Tarkin’s back to visit Vader and try and achieve his full due is a reshoot trying to amplify the power struggle between the two Imperial leaders.
On page three we’ll go through some individual shots not in the movie, but less impactful to the overall narrative.