Just looked at the two remaining versions of my edit, and my conclusion is this: Much of Finn and Rose’s journey together makes little sense without Poe’s conspiracy theory subplot intact. And because I’ve always intended to remove that subplot from the beginning, I have no interest in bringing it back just to give Finn some more screentime. I also think that Finn and Rose’s big showdown with the first order (and Captain Phasma) muddied up the story’s already messed up structure even further (and don’t get me started on BB-8’s hacking of a walker).

Taking out Finn and Rose’s sequence on the first order fleet did a much better job at simplifying the ending, since all we have to focus on for the first ending is 1. Rey, Kylo and Snoke, and 2. The resistance escape combined with Holdo’s kamikaze attack. Taking out Rose’s crashing into Finn during the Crait battle doesn’t hurt, either. And because Episode IX ditches Finn and Rose’s relationship anyway, there’s no point in trying to keep that love story in.

Bottom line: I’ve made up my mind on how to edit Finn. I’m going to add the alternate opening deleted scene at around two-thirds of the way through the film (Just before the first ending begins), and have him do a few things during the second ending on Crait, including trying to stop the battering ram (and before you panic, you can rest assured that I’m still cutting out Rose’s “rescue” of Finn, and keeping as much of Finn’s sacrifice for the greater good out of my edit since there’s no way to resolve it now).

I still have to take care of a lot of small edits with this one, but now that I’ve decided how to handle Finn, I have the big stuff taken care of. So, I’m going to steal a page from my friend, CaptainFaraday, and release a general overview of the major changes first. Then, once I’ve taken care of the tiny things, I’ll release a more thorough and detailed changes list later on down the road. Be on the lookout. I’ll be releasing the changes list soon!