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Rogue Zero - What was changed, reshot, etc in Rogue One?

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I thought it would be interesting to discuss the evidence available and rumors circulating about versions of Rogue One that we, the audience, have not seen. The “Rogue One * Spoilers *” Thread felt very cluttered, so I’ve made a separate thread. My goal is to use the first few replies to compile information put together in the discussion.

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Prior Events, Flashbacks and the basic setup

The Rebellion

  • The Rebels did not trust Jyn, keeping her in shackles during initial custody.

  • The Rebellion know about the Death Star and its imminent weapons test before briefing Jyn. Her mission is to find out how to destroy it, not to get a defecting pilot to learn of its existence. Does this mean getting a defecting pilot from Saw on Jedha or, having already done that, is her mission to contact her father on Eadu?

  • Cassian is described in promo materials as a Rebel Recruiter. Is he sent to Jedha to recruit Saw’s Partisans to the Alliance?

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Jedha

  • The Empire was going to be holding Rebel prisoners on Jedha, as shown by captured pilots.

  • It seems very likely that Kaytoo did not meet Jyn until they were all on Jedha. Is this because Cassian and Jyn went to Jedha to meet up with Kaytoo, or because Cassian and Kaytoo meet Jyn there, then take her to Yavin?

  • The crashed X-Wing in the background of Chirrut’s introductory fight scene belonged to Saw’s Partisans - possibly indicating there was more to their attack on the Kyber Crystal Convoy.

  • At least some of the Partisans, such as Moroff, were going to make it off Jedha. From there they’d join the Rebellion and participate in the assault on Scarif.

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Rogue Raid on Scarif

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Saw Gerrara is bald in flashbacks and bearded in the “present”, therefore I believe most of the early trailer shots are from a cut that has some Jyn in training and/or her abandonment. The dialog “What will you do when they catch you? What will you do if they break you? If you continue to fight, what will you become?” sounds like training or his final speech as he leaves her behind.

I believe that the TIE on the transmission tower is a trailer-made shot, along with the promo shot of the Rebel leaders crowded around a hologram of the Death Star.

There are various promo shots showing what looks to be Vader and Krennic having a conversation on the Death Star. I don’t believe Vader ever is on the DS. There’s also dialog between Krennic and Vader that isn’t in the final cut, where Krennic is trying to convince Vader how badass the DS is.

All of the early promo material mentions how Scarif is the new construction base for the DS, which I think was changed to it just being a archive. Also the early trailers and promos mention how the Rebels know that “major weapons test is imminent” and they need to know how to stop it, making me think that originally Galen Erso or someone sends a message saying that things are bad, but maybe they need the pilot to find the location of the test. But if they know a test is imminent and know they need plans, why would they be reluctant to send the fleet to Scarif since they don’t have to believe Jyn’s word?

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There’s also a shot of Krennic surveying the damage on Scarif on the ground, which may be a trailer shot, but why would they take the actor to the beach set if he wasn’t going to be on the ground at any point?

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joefavs said:

He claims none of that ending was actually shot, but that seems to be at odds with the trailer shots of Jyn running around the Imperial base and beach with the plans in hand.

Fascinating. Why do you say that Jyn running around the beach with the plans in hand implies they shot an ending where she survived? As far as I can figure, her survival would only affect what happens after she transmits the plans - and the scenes running around on the beach with the plans took place in between getting the plans from the Archive and transmitting them at the Tower (originally separate structures), which has nothing to do with surviving post-transmission.

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joefavs said:

A version of the script was produced where not everyone died before Disney gave Gareth Edwards the OK to kill everyone:

http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/20/14022380/rogue-one-ending-original-different-gareth-edwards

He claims none of that ending was actually shot, but that seems to be at odds with the trailer shots of Jyn running around the Imperial base and beach with the plans in hand.

I think Tim’s statement of there being two buildings covers running with the plans. It doesn’t makes much sense to have the archives INSIDE the comm tower/command center. I believe they had to break into the archives, then get to the comm tower, which may or may not have been the command center. If originally the planet was the construction base for finishing the DS, it would make sense to have more than one building.

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doubleofive said:

joefavs said:

A version of the script was produced where not everyone died before Disney gave Gareth Edwards the OK to kill everyone:

http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/20/14022380/rogue-one-ending-original-different-gareth-edwards

He claims none of that ending was actually shot, but that seems to be at odds with the trailer shots of Jyn running around the Imperial base and beach with the plans in hand.

I think Tim’s statement of there being two buildings covers running with the plans. It doesn’t makes much sense to have the archives INSIDE the comm tower/command center. I believe they had to break into the archives, then get to the comm tower, which may or may not have been the command center. If originally the planet was the construction base for finishing the DS, it would make sense to have more than one building.

I think the comm tower was a pretty minor, albeit tall, outlying building, as seen here: https://imgur.com/st5nowj

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True, I just figured that altering the flow of events enough to have them make it out of the tower and back to the beach to then just have them die in a different location seemed a little over the top. The two-building thing hadn’t occurred to me.

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joefavs said:

True, I just figured that altering the flow of events enough to have them make it out of the tower and back to the beach to then just have them die in a different location seemed a little over the top.

Which would probably be why they cut it.

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doubleofive said:

Saw Gerrara is bald in flashbacks and bearded in the “present”, therefore I believe most of the early trailer shots are from a cut that has some Jyn in training and/or her abandonment. The dialog “What will you do when they catch you? What will you do if they break you? If you continue to fight, what will you become?” sounds like training or his final speech as he leaves her behind.

I agree this sounds like exactly what you say - but then Jyn would’ve been to Jedha previously, as that’s the same room in which they meet later. So…not sure what to make of that?

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timdiggerm said:

doubleofive said:

Saw Gerrara is bald in flashbacks and bearded in the “present”, therefore I believe most of the early trailer shots are from a cut that has some Jyn in training and/or her abandonment. The dialog “What will you do when they catch you? What will you do if they break you? If you continue to fight, what will you become?” sounds like training or his final speech as he leaves her behind.

I agree this sounds like exactly what you say - but then Jyn would’ve been to Jedha previously, as that’s the same room in which they meet later. So…not sure what to make of that?

Right. It is the same room, but the window isn’t blown out.

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How do you guys feel seeing stuff on the trailers that aren’t in the film? I think it’s very misleading, I’ve been wondering a long time what all the snippets meant and was looking forward to the subway scene and many others. I mean seriously, like 95% of the dialogue and over half of the stuff shown in advance wasn’t in the movie.

I really hope the BD contains a lot of deleted footage.

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

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LexX said:

How do you guys feel seeing stuff on the trailers that aren’t in the film? I think it’s very misleading, I’ve been wondering a long time what all the snippets meant and was looking forward to the subway scene and many others. I mean seriously, like 95% of the dialogue and over half of the stuff shown in advance wasn’t in the movie.

I really hope the BD contains a lot of deleted footage.

Do you feel tricked? I think it’s just a reality of the film-making process. When those trailers were made, I’m sure most if not all of what you saw was in the movie - it’s just that things changed over time. If you demand trailers that only contain what’s in the final film, you can’t have trailers until the final cut.

Plus, it’s pretty helpful for discussions like this one!

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LexX said:

How do you guys feel seeing stuff on the trailers that aren’t in the film? I think it’s very misleading, I’ve been wondering a long time what all the snippets meant and was looking forward to the subway scene and many others. I mean seriously, like 95% of the dialogue and over half of the stuff shown in advance wasn’t in the movie.

I really hope the BD contains a lot of deleted footage.

It’s not misleading if that’s what was in the movie when they cut the trailer. Besides, I’d much rather have a trailer of things not in the movie that give me a flavor of what the movie is about than a trailer that’s just the best parts.

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Surprised no one has mentioned the Yavin changes. They’re small, but seem to imply the biggest changes to the plot/characters.

First of all, it seems like Jyn has never stopped being a rebel for Saw, and in fact that’s how she got in prison. This means that much of her interaction with Saw is different. I think the hologram might’ve been added as well, or changed.

The whole mission is completely different. It isn’t find Galen Erso, it’s figure out how to destroy the Death Star (which presumably would lead them to Galen). Everything involving Cassian’s mission to assassinate Galen was added during reshoots (I think he was supposed to be a Rebel recruiter or something).

The other thing that’s noticeable in the film (though not based on trailer footage or anything), is that anytime you see Donnie Yen with a wig, it’s a reshoot. This occurred to me in his first scene (when he meets Jyn). This also makes clear the assumption that anything involving the Galen Erso assassination plot is from reshoots.

Do you guys remember people saying that the reshoots were done to add additional shots of X-Wing pilots? Is it possible that the original battle was all on the ground, and that all the space stuff was added after the fact?

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DominicCobb said:

The whole mission is completely different. It isn’t find Galen Erso, it’s figure out how to destroy the Death Star (which presumably would lead them to Galen). Everything involving Cassian’s mission to assassinate Galen was added during reshoots (I think he was supposed to be a Rebel recruiter or something).

I guide I linked earlier calls him a recruiter. Very interesting.

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I just found this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5sdztM-p98

Interesting. Edwards talks about how the film is about “the formation of the Rebel alliance,” which isn’t really true, is it? I wonder if the original conception was closer to that. Would make sense having Cassian being a recruiter in that version, bringing together all these different people and sects of the Rebellion.

The other thing that just occurred to me, adding X-Wing stuff could easily refer to the assault on Eadu, too, which was probably added with the Galen assassination storyline.

One other thing that I’m not sure on is whether Rogue One’s mission to Scarif was originally sanctioned or not.

Anyway it looks like anywhere from 30-50% of the film was reshot.