Rogue One

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story‘ was a fun romp that gave us a look into some of the darker aspects of the Rebellion when it comes to “Star Wars” but writer Chris Weitz has shared how things changed from the initial script and the feature film release.

Weitz knew that writer Tony Gilroy would be making changes to his work but didn’t know precisely what they were until he sat down at the premiere. While some might be shocked to learn that the amazing Darth Vader scene where we finally saw the Dark Lord of the Sith show off what we’ve been told he could do all these years was added later in production, it sounds like the overall story had some massive changes.

A major one being that the audience wasn’t initially intended to learn that the Rebels were trying to get their hands on the plans for the Death Star near the start of the film but instead near the end. As Weitz tells it:

“It wasn’t clear at the beginning of the film that the Death Star was going to be the Death Star. It was just the sense in the rebellion that something bad was going down and we need to find out about it. There was this developing sense of dread throughout the [original script].”

It sounds like the change where the audience learned about this “planet killer” from an officer, in the beginning, was due to executives wanting to tie audiences into the movie from the start as fans all know what the Death Star already is. Weitz “was pushing for something that had more of a sense of dramatic irony” by not sharing what the Rebels were after right away.

That being said, he doesn’t mind the changes:

“I feel great about the final cut. I really liked the movie…I had no idea what it was going to look like until I sat down at the premiere. It was like watching a movie I had written and a new movie at the same time. I really, really liked it.”

Audiences clearly liked it too! As to what else changed the writer stated:

“If you can imagine the beginning of the second act and the end of the second act swapping places, that would not be an inaccurate way to portray how it structurally was changed. The Darth Vader kicking ass I cannot take credit for. That was a later invention. That was different…A lot of the deaths were put in different locations when they were shot. I’m not sure why K-2 died in a different place, for instance.”

What Weitz didn’t reveal is when and where K-2 was initially going to die! Now we can all spend half the morning searching online to see if it was shared in a previous interview.

Do you think the changes to ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ likely worked or would you have rather the Death Star plans be a reveal near the end of the film? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Source: IndieWire