In a video interview published today by Jamie Stangroom, Tim Rose talks about shooting extra material for TFA that wasn’t used, and a proper death scene for TLJ. Source: https://www.fanthatracks.com/news/film-music-tv/admiral-ackbars-spectacular-unseen-death-scene-details/?fbclid=IwAR17vDbXVJ2rnN4V_d-_dEiX0166nsIUuDfxG8pWiqDDEIeMkZnNm_IvLsE

Interviewer: In the last Jedi, did you know that he died? Before you saw the film, as obviously we don’t see it.

Tim Rose: We filmed it all.

Interviewer: You filmed a death scene?

Tim Rose: Oh yes. Even in this day of CG, we finished all our dialogue and they brought in these stuntmen in their flame proof costumes, and it was so dangerous – my death scene – that everybody had to leave set. And they blew them right across the set and with the glass broken in the capsule they get sucked out into the void of space. So the explosion happened which blew them all towards camera, and they were on snap lines and they got sucked to the top of the stage. So it was totally spectacular. Now im not privy to the editing side of things but having seen it for real I suspect they looked at it and said what have we just done.

Interviewer: I like The Last Jedi a lot, but for me I would have gone for the epic Ackbar death. Were you a little disappointed just to have a verbal exit from the saga?

Tim Rose: Yeah, very much so. After The Force Awakens, for whatever reason, length of picture, whatever, it all got cut out. So after waiting 30 years to reprise Ackbar I was a little disappointed with Ackbar’s role in that picture. So in The Last Jedi I was quite looking forward to maybe them giving him something more toothy. We were only given the script on the day we were shooting that piece of script. So each day I would come to work going is this the day that Ackbar gets something more involving. And I looked at my script and said Ackbar’s going out the window, so that’s that then.