Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Special Edition

“They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally, they became heroes.”
-Senator Leia Organa of Alderaan, as quoted by Alan Dean Foster
Star Wars, from the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, by George Lucas (Nov. 1976)

Hello there!

The quote above, written by Alan Dean Foster and referring to Han & Luke, I feel applies a more closely to the characters of Rogue One, the 2016 prequel to that story, and that film’s 2022 prequel, Andor. Heroes of the unsung, unknown variety; their victories and sacrifices all the more meaningful and poignant because of it. It’s almost impossible to rewatch Rogue One, almost 10 years after its premiere, without two seasons of Andor weighing on it, pushing some to see it as a sort of “series finale” to that show.

But I don’t think it really works as a series finale to Andor; yet Andor is clearly, intentionally building to it. Showrunner Tony Gilroy specifically begins to fold the more hopeful/fantastical elements of both Rogue One (which he famously rewrote/reshot/re-edited) and Star Wars into its tapestry near the end, explicitly, for that reason! But Rogue One is still most solidly built, dramatically, as a bridge. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Special Edition is my attempt to reverse engineer the bridge, to carry viewers from a complicated 2016 to a more fantastical 1977 in a more streamlined manner; but also back towards the darker, demanding 2023-2025 series.

Sequences are compressed, not just to save time, but to maximize performances - there’s a TON of awards-caliber actors in this flick (the cast’s collective CV - maybe the best pound-for-pound cast IN a theatrical Star War - includes 2 Oscars, 2 Oscar Noms, a Cannes Grand Prix, a Cannes Best Actor, and 2 Emmys in it!) Those scenes have been rearranged a little too; some of Gilroy’s reshoot material is now stacked on top of itself at the open instead of spread out across the first 45min. And the stuff he didn’t reshoot has been made (yup, I’m gonna say it) faster and more intense. In 2016 the callbacks and (yup, gonna say this, too) fanservice was a little more welcomed (or tolerated). In 2025 it’s almost Alien: Romulus levels of elbows-to-the-ribs, and a lot of it’s been removed as a result. Although some of it’s fine. I don’t mind a pitcher of blue milk sitting out. It’s good and good for you. Healthy bones. Makes you strong enough to pull the ea–

Context is the key word here. There’s a lot of context coming to bear on this cut, context folks didn’t have (hell, that didn’t exist yet!) in 2016. Not just Andor, and all the context that show now provides to characters like Cassian and K-2SO, Orson Krennic and Saw Gerrera, even General Draven and Mon Mothma; but context via the previous edits and editors who have worked on this film in the interim. Some of those choices and ideas have been folded into this Special Edition.

That’s why this is a Special Edition: Normally I just do straight cuts and some music replacement. But since this started as some proof-of-concept tweaks, on a forum, to an edit of an edit, and then grew pretty quickly into something way more involved than that, there are things in here I don’t normally incorporate: You’ll see deepfake fixes to the CGI Tarkin & Leia from Shamook, as touched up by faneditor Burbin and integrated by Hal9000, as part of his own remixing of a top-notch edit by DigModiFicaTion. You’ll hear voice-over replacement of Darth Vader from Ryan Golden, as famously heard on YouTube via the Star Wars Story channel.

Click here for the trailer

You won’t hear, however, any music from Andor folded into the soundtrack - not for lack of trying! Multiple scenes had Britell/Roberts cues mixed in at various points, but they all eventually came out. Same with attempts at using shots from the series as flashbacks; The problem was one of tone and style. I don’t think you can take what’s structurally, fundamentally Jyn Erso’s story in this film, and retrofit it to be equally Cassian’s. Especially since, on a larger thematic note, Cassian’s two seasons were ALL ABOUT how he, and his friends (who are everywhere), learned to put other people, and their growing, maturing cause, ahead of themselves, all for the sake of a better future.

I found I was short-circuiting both Rogue One and Andor when I tried to force this movie out of Jyn’s POV - thin as it might be. Although: trimming off a lot of her sarcastic/simplistic fronting and letting Jones’ performance speak more through her expressive-yet-subtle emoting REALLY helps that characterization. Turns out the less you have her posing, the realer she feels.

(That said, if you ARE looking to try a version of this movie that is literally turned into episodes of that show, please check out NFBisms amazing Andor: The Rogue One Arc.)

ANYWAY: If Rogue One is a bridge being retrofitted, then Jyn Erso has to occupy the midway point between Cassian Andor and Luke Skywalker (at least the one at the beginning of Star Wars) as best she can in order for it to work. Cassian has to be a supporting character here, not a co-lead, or Andor doesn’t make sense as a journey for him anymore. Jyn damn sure is not a Jedi, but she IS a believer. The corners of the galaxy they both occupy are dirty and grimy, but they’re literally knocking on doors to rooms that are about to be populated by wizards in bathrobes (a lesson Krennic already knows in his own way). Britell’s music can be pitch shifted and key transposed to blend into Giacchino’s, but the tenor of those compositions just didn’t combine for me, no matter what I tried. I guess that ended up being a metaphor for the project overall.

But the feel and style by which Andor’s story was told (if not through its music or repurposed shots) was absolutely front of mind as the cut evolved. And when changes were applied, they were applied so as to take the ingredients of Rogue One - Grieg Fraser’s photography, Michael Giacchino’s music, Gilroy’s sense of building pressure and dry humor - and cook ‘em up with a little more of that flavor. Especially now that we have so much more context to work with.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Special Edition
2hrs, 6min. 1080p, 2.39:1, 5.1 Dolby Digital, English subtitles (alien-language subtitles burnt-in)

Chapters:

1. A Long Ride Ahead
2. Main Title and Captain Andor
3. Bodhi Rook, Cargo Pilot
4. When Has Become Now
5. Rebel Interrogation
6. Trust Goes Both Ways
7. The Guardians of the Whills
8. Ambush in the Holy City
9. Last Days of the Partisans
10. The Message
11. The Race to Eadu
12. Brief Reunions
13. You Can’t Talk Your Way Around This
14. Krennic’s Aspirations
15. Rebellions Are Built on Hope
16. Rogue One
17. Make 10 Men Feel Like 100
18. Light it Up
19. The Battle of Scarif
20. The Master Switch
21. Stardust
22. Your Father Would Have Been Proud
    23 Hope and End Credits

Notable changes can be found in this follow-up post here.

if you would like to check it out yourself, DIRECT MESSAGE A REQUEST OR EMAIL ME DIRECTLY AT STRAIGHTCUTSNOCHASER AT GMAIL. DO NOT JUST REQUEST A LINK BELOW. Not only is “link plz” not a great way to get noticed, not only will site ownership probably just wipe it out (it’s against the rules here!) but it’s honestly way better odds you’ll get seen and get your request fulfilled faster if you just DM me, anyway. 😃

Any suggestions, comments, critiques, questions - whatever you got, I’m all ears.

LOL that is probably the gentlest way to put the absolute most pressure on me possible 😃

Seriously though, Thank you, man! And hopefully this works for most folks, although if some of the choices do not work for some viewers, hopefully it can become the base for some “half-ass” edits for other folks! In the reddit version of this thread, the reinstatement of Bor Gullet (which is a thing that’s happening here) has caused some “hmmmmmm’s” to pop out - which I get!

But also, I figure at this point, what made Bor Gullet cuttable in 2017 is not as applicable in 2025. When the movie came out, all we knew of Saw was The Clone Wars and a Rebels appearance? So him being a complete wackjob with a pet beanbag monster was… WAY out there. But now? Oh, Saw Gerrera drooling and shouting and taking massive hits of Rhydo is extreeeemely in character, LOL. Plus now Bodhi’s defection/capture is one 3 minute sequence, it’s not cut up and spread around the first half of the movie anymore.

Definitely agree, @Vladius.

I believe it was an addition during the reshoots. I feel that the higher-ups said “Wait… we don’t have a creepy alien/monster, add one in!”

In the theatrical I agree it seemed like he got Bor Gullet’d and then took a nap and was good, LOL.

But I think placing the now-3min sequence between Rings of Kafrene and Krennic meeting Tarkin, the movie-time between Saw being a giant weirdo (and Mon underlining that through dialog about 6min later) and Cassian/Chirrut/Baze finding him during Galen’s message, the “getting over it right away” doesn’t actually feel like that anymore: Instead of checking back in with Bodhi every 6-7min, now he’s getting absolutely screwed by the Partisans in one intense 3min glut (if this was a reshoot then this is Gilroy work, which makes a little more sense as to why it fits butted up against the Andor/Tivik scene that was also straight Gilroy work) then Tarkin talks about him, then the Alliance talks about him, then we see the Empire flipping Jedha upside down for him, and when we finally see him again outside of the one hologram on the street, it’s about 30min later and he’s mumbling to himself about being the Pilot.

Since my aim is trying to rebalance tone and characterization in the context of Andor being released & Rogue One having aged 7 years, that Bor Gullet is not as plot important (and you’re 100% right, it never was!) isn’t a big deal I don’t think. The focus for me is more on what introducing Saw fully before the Alliance does for that tone, and poking at how what he’ll do to Bodhi (and how Bodhi will endure it) will feel like for post-Andor rewatchers. Can I heighten what’s happening without overtly bringing in references FROM that show; but calling that feel to mind through reshaping all those scenes into one sequence by cutting for pacing/performance.

Well, I don’t think he’s getting tortured for longer, I think he gets chucked in the cell right after the scene ends. I’ve never read it as Saw’s got him plugged into the mindreading ballsack the whole time 😃 Also nothing says Saw’s not bs’ing him a little either. Saw’s on that Rhydo. He says a lotta things, haha.

But since it’s a tone thing, not a plot thing for me, the only real argument I think I can make for it, is if it plays in the context of the cut! But if it doesn’t, the fact I’ve got it consolidated into a single 3-min sequence should make it super-easy to lift right out for folks who prefer a more plot-oriented POV on the edit!

I still think Bor Gullet feels out of place. Sometimes “show don’t tell” isn’t always the right approach.

Hal’s edit handles the Bodhi stuff quite well, with us meeting Bodhi for the first time in the prison cell and him being less out of it.

However, if you’d want to reinstate some stuff to include more Saw:

• I think the initial Bodhi intro scene could still work fine as is.
• When Saw pulls his mask tight back to his suit, cut to the next scene.
• Leave Bor Gullet out of the edit.
• Re-add Bodhi being more out of it and not knowing who he is when he is in the jail cell. His mental state leaves it to the imagination of the viewer to dwell on the extent of his interrogation.

By cutting this way, Bor Gullet is removed, and the assumption is instead that Saw was the one that did something to him to jack his head up so badly. I think that works to make Saw seem even crazier if that is your goal.

Question: did you rip Ryan Golden’s VO straight from YouTube?

Yup! I don’t think there’s any other way to get it. I used yt-dlp, grabbed the highest bitrate possible, converted it to the proper framerate, retimed it, and had to re-edit to fit the scene proper since the scene as uploaded to youtube is also slightly edited IIRC. While I was in there doing all that and converting it to mono for the center channel mixing I added a little bit of extra processing to nudge it a LITTLE closer to taste towards 1977 Vader.

Is there a better source available? I honestly didn’t mind that the YouTube source was what it was in this instance since 77 Vader isn’t exactly hi-fi sounding in the first place.

Broom Kid said:

I’ll replace this post with the deets and the “you can download now, please don’t just beg for links, it makes everyone sad, DM me instead”

Good luck with that.

Bingowings said:

Presumably you have heard this voice adjustment. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Bp9Z3wbEj/

I haven’t! I don’t have facebook and clicking that link brings me to a locked page.

I’m familiar with a guy named Canadian Vader on YouTube as well - his style is, to cite the Beastie Boys, slower and lower in general. It’s a good impersonation, but I prefer the Golden performance of that scene.

I also haven’t been able to find anyone doing anything with “Prepare a boarding party” but that ended up being a non-issue because that scene is mostly cut in this Special Edition anyway.

Bingowings said:

Presumably you have heard this voice adjustment. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Bp9Z3wbEj/

Link’s broken. 🥲

I appreciate the reach out anyway though, thanks! I’m okay with keeping Guy Henry’s vocal performance as-is, I’ve already trimmed down some of Tarkin’s lines in this cut anyway.

The other thing that jumped out at me that I don’t think I noticed as much on previous watches - I mean I noticed it, but I don’t think I noticed how much of it was still hanging around - there was obviously an edit of this movie where Cassian and Jyn clearly have a much flirtier relationship that culminates with kissyface in that elevator on Scarif. In the original cut, nothing actually happens in the elevator (in this Special Edition I’ve simply gotten rid of the elevator ride altogether) but there are still like three or four weird moments setting that up still orphaned in the theatrical cut.

Now, seeing as Bix is a real thing and we know where she is and who she’s holding in a wheat field somewhere, none of that can stay. But it was interesting seeing how much of the theatrical cut seemed to tie Jyn’s maturation as a character and getting over her dads’ abandonment of her, into her suddenly wanting to make out with Cassian.

Editing Jyn was interesting: I found a lot of what improves Jyn’s character came from trimming out the more demonstrative and overtly smartass moments (i.e. curtseying and “I appreciate the support” after Cassian volunteers, for example) and doing way more with how expressive Jones is as an actor. The weakest part of her character was her putting up a front anyway. It was always unbelievable, and nobody in those scenes ever really believed it, so why keep any of that stuff? She’s wounded but earnest, and that’s what’s on her face, and that’s what comes through. And if this cut is trying to be a better bridge between Andor and Star Wars, this version of Jyn hopefully works better as a midway point between Cassian and Luke Skywalker, too. I’m aiming for a little more openly earnest, but still scuffed up and pissed off. The key difference is that she believes to a degree Cassian just can’t.

The crimey wiseass doesn’t play, and she drops it as soon as anyone pokes her hard enough in the eye so… just skip to the part where she’s being angrily earnest in the first place. Less fronting, less words, more emoting, better pace. Less lines, and more room to read between them, I guess.

Bingowings said:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19WwhfhthF/

Dunno if that’s made a difference. It could be closed off to faceboot users only. I can’t find another link.

I can click on the previous link and it opens. Probably some Meta shenigans.

Bloody Meta! 😭

I did not cut it!

Well, I did not cut ALL of it. It’s sort of like in Spectre how you only needed “And now we know what C stands for.”

Him deadpanning “Are you kidding me?” is legitimately funny.

I think I’m locked at a final running time of 2:06:12

EDIT IS NOW AVAILABLE

PRIMARY CHANGES: As usual, the sheer number of edits/microedits for pacing and to remove redundant/awkward dialog beats would make a complete changelist pretty exhausting to look at, but the bigger alterations will get noted below (and in cases where changes from prior fanedits remained as the edit evolved, the original edit will be named)

• New title card/new music (title card taken from Teaser Trailer, now scored with snippet of Jyn Erso and Hope Suite)
• Bodhi Rook’s defection/abduction scenes on Jedha have been cut/consolidated into one unbroken three-minute sequence and placed between Cassian’s intro on the Ring of Kafrene and Krennic’s intro on the Death Star with Tarkin
• Tarkin VFX replaced with deepfakes by Shamook, touched up by Burbin, integrated by Hal9000 as per his edit. This applies to all appearances of Tarkin, as well as Leia’s appearance.
• Jyn’s interrogation on Yavin IV has been cut for pacing/performance, and continuity issues with Andor have been deleted. The music cue under Bail Organa’s reveal has been changed as well.
• K-2SO “bag drop” punchline improvement, and Baze’s Stormtrooper slaughter in one unbroken take edits are via Hal9000 and DigModiFication’s Rise of the Rebellion. The cameo of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba has been deleted.
• Cassian/Chirrut/Baze’s imprisonment lightly edited for continuity with Andor. Saw and Jyn’s reunion edited for pacing/performance
• Tarkin seizing control of the Death Star lightly edited for pacing (and any less digital Tarkin, even deepfaked, is for the better). Conversation on U-Wing in transit to Eadu edited for pacing/performance.
• Approach to, and confrontation at, Galen’s lab edited for pacing and continuity. The deletion of Krennic shouting “Fire” the first time but Death Troopers not immediately shooting done via Burbin as integrated into Hal9000s cut
• Vader’s creepy butler busting into Anakin’s hot-tub time to announce Krennic’s arrival deleted. Feel free to imagine he’s hanging out in that weird mechanical clamshell thing from Empire instead. Way cooler. Ryan Golden’s voiceover replaces James Earl Jones’ line reads in the following scene with Krennic via Star Wars Story’s YouTube, re-timed and reprocessed to fit in the scene correctly.

Notes on keeping Darth Vader: This is one of the scenes I feel actually is enriched by Andor Season 2, even if it was primarily received as fanservice at the time. Firstly, as plot - Vader’s threats are why Krennic goes to Scarif and orders up all of Erso’s planning papers. But dramatically/thematically - Krennic in Season 2 tends to be deployed as THE self-consuming fascist ceiling Dedra Meero is going to smash against in the Empire. She’s going to get greedy for power, get manipulated, try to end-run that manipulation, and get ruined for it. Krennic does so with ONE finger. And in this movie, Krennic finds out he’s got a ceiling, too. Tarkin - amidst HIS achievement (!) - takes his project after over a decade, he tries to end-run Tarkin, and Vader, without even putting a finger on him, shows him how disposable he is, and maneuvers him straight to the place where he dies. It’s like poetry. It rhymes. Now where have I heard that before…

• The Alliance Council bickering and whining is lightly cut for pacing and performance. The Alliance Council probably would have gotten cut more, except Senators Jebel and Pamlo show up in Andor for one scene and they’re giant pains in the ass there, too! Fear not, that crazy dude in the Rebel Bleachers super worried about what Jyn is proposing is still here.
• Cassian and Jyn’s weird pre-boarding flirting has been deleted, as have any stray scenes where they’re catching glances and then being awkward about it. This has always seemed like leftover setup from an earlier cut where they made out on Scarif, but now even the leftover hints at it are getting terminated with extreme prejudice. Not now. Not with Bix in that wheat field holding that baby. Hell no.
• Bodhi’s indecision in naming their group, and Jyn’s confusion at being trapped under the shield, both trimmed via DigModiFication’s Rise of the Rebellion/Hal9000s edits. Jyn’s speech before the Rogues leave the cargo shuttle has been lightly edited for pace/feel.
• Mon Mothma and Bail’s “war is inevitable” scene, essentially there solely to go “Hey Obi-Wan Kenobi reference! Hey he’s talking about Leia!” and the following scene of the Rebel Fleet running around and fueling their ships leading to - and including - the Threepio and Artoo cameo, have both been deleted.
• The “Light it Up” chapter comprising the early moments of the ground battle on Scarif lightly edited for pacing to account for removal of above-mentioned scenes.
• Starfighter sequence where X-Wings bomb the shield to no effect, ending in Red 5’s death, has been deleted
• I don’t know why the Imperial Data Vault has a homicidal bathroom fan at the top of it for Jyn to climb through. It would make sense in a Metroid level. This is not Metroid One, a Samus Aran Story though. It has been deleted.
• Jyn’s line “you know who I am” deleted via Hal9000’s edit, because Krennic has no idea who she is and Mendelsson isn’t playing it like he knows her. His only time ACTUALLY seeing her was deleted prior on Eadu. Slight dialog trims throughout “Your Father Would be Proud of You” chapter for redundancies. Cassian and Jyn’s elevator ride has also been deleted because Bix is STILL IN THAT WHEAT FIELD looking beatific and amazing.
• Vader no longer requests a boarding party, despite how meme-worthy the line has become. It’s pretty clear Raddus’ ship is disabled, and Vader’s been staring at it since he showed up, and we’re about to see him go board it in 10 seconds, so now Capt. Sideburns doesn’t interrupt him, we just watch Vader stare out the window as “Your Father Would Be Proud of You” is on the soundtrack.