I know, I know — it’s a been a whole week of pulling apart every story thread that the team behind “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” didn’t go down. But let’s face it, the shot of the TIE fighter facing down Felicity Jones‘ Jyn Erso in the early trailers for the film has become one of the most iconic scenes of the movie — even though it’s not actually in it. So, what’s the deal? Had the reshoots not happened, would that scene have been in the final version? Well, according to Gareth Edwards, the answer is no.
“It was something the marketing team fell in love with,” the director told EW. “We knew it would not be in the film. It’s one of those things where all the trailers are put together way before the film comes out. It wasn’t a specific part of the story.”
So, they shot that scene for fun? Something tells me that there might be more to the story, unless they really did create a sizzle scene just for promotional purposes — but I suppose we’ll never know. But if there is more to the tale, it’s not going to come from Edwards.
READ MORE: Go Rogue: 5 Directions Lucasfilm Could Take Their ‘Star Wars’ Spin-Offs Next
Meanwhile, screenwriter Gary Whitta details the balance in how they chose the cameo appearances by certain characters, and which ones in ‘Rogue One’ he actually didn’t like.
“We did have some other characters but the reason why they’re not in the film is because any time we did something like, where I’m wearing the fanboy hat and not the professional writer’s hat, someone would come along and say, let’s not do that character again,” Whitta explained. “We don’t have to be winking at the audience all the time.”
“I thought having Evazan and Walrus Man was a little too much,” Whitta said of the duo who audiences know from the fight at the Cantina in ‘A New Hope.’ “You have to reign in that instinct to go back and put things in just because you loved them when you were a kid.”
And it even seems that Whitta is wearying a bit of talking too much about the behind-the-scenes development process, turning down the opportunity to talk about the other cameos that were considered.
“Yeah, …I’m not going to tell you,” he said. “You will write it up and it will become a big deal. It’s not a big deal. They were just little things that we put in there.”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” is now available on your favorite digital outlet.