(SORT OF SPOILERS FOR SW:BLOODLINE MAYBE)
Having just finished reading Bloodline, I’ve only just realised it was Korrie who Leia sends to her vainful death…
J.J. prioritized ‘fan service’ over effectiveness.
What? I think this is proof of the opposite.
He wanted Leia to appear at a certain moment in the film, for maximum “nostalgia” effect. Thus, important scenes like this were left on the cutting room floor.
Maximum nostalgia or not, that was the most effective place to put her introduction. I think having her in the film from the start would have been fan service when she only becomes important to the story halfway through.
That being said, I think Leia’s introduction in the final cut is perfect, but we lost scenes that could have provided much needed context.
Is that context really necessary for this film though? Whether the Resistance has the full support of the Republic isn’t something that really affects the story of TFA in any significant way.
Not to say there couldn’t or shouldn’t have been more context, but it wasn’t worth sacrificing the pacing and structure of the film just for the sake of these Resistance scenes.