Rogue Onealmost featured Darth Vader starting his Rebel slaughter on the Scarif beach. Original screenwriter Gary Whitta made the reveal on social media earlier this week. For manyStar Warsfans,Rogue Oneis one of the best projects Disney has put out with the franchise since 2015, though there are still some very disliked portions of it. Whatever the case may be, there was a lot that changed behind-the-scenes before the final cut ended up on the big screen.
When asked if there was anything crazy that he had to leave out ofRogue One, Gary Whitta went back to theiconic Darth Vader scene. As it turns out, we were originally going to see Vader a lot sooner than what was shown, which would have had an entirely different effect.Gary Whittahad this to say about adding Vader in earlier.
“Rebel ground troopsbunkered in around the Imperial comms tower on Scarif, stormtroopers can’t break through to get to Jyn who’s on her way to transmit plans. Vader says. ‘put me on that beach.’ Carnage ensues. You ended up seeing something like that in the corridor scene though.”
Had Darth Vader stormed the beach inRogue One, there would have been a lot ofStar Warsfans pointing out thatAnakin Skywalker hates sand. Skywalker has said it himself, so it would have been a deeply frustrating moment for the villain to step foot on a sandy beach to take out some Rebel scum. Regardless, Vader probably would have done what needed to be done to complete his mission, even if it included having to get some sand out of his suit afterwards.
While seeing Darth Vader mow down Rebels on the beach would have been a neat visual, it also would have taken away from how well the movie ends. There are still a number ofStar Warsfans who aren’t into the way it lines up withA New Hopefor various reasons, but the majority of fans were shocked by the big reveal at the tail-end ofRogue One. The Scarif scene would have introduced Vader earlier and could have made the corridor scene less effective as a result, so it seems it’s for the better that it didn’t make it into the movie.
Apparently, Gary Whitta had a much different ending forRogue Onethan what made the final cut. Screenwriter Chris Weitz revealed that before he joined the project, the story had a happy ending, which involved a wedding under the “presumption that Disney wouldn’t allow characters to die with such abandon.” Weitz went on to say, “I felt it was necessary (to kill off the characters) because nobody ever mentions them or sees them again,” he said. “But also because we’ve done this whole sort of theme about sacrifice that it was appropriate that all of our main characters die.” In the end, it seems that the darker ending was the right choice. you’re able to check outGary Whitta’s Twitterreveal below.
