It's no secret that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story went through some major changes during reshoots, with a confrontation between Jyn Erso and a TIE Fighter-flying Director Krennic left on the cutting room floor. That wasn't all, though, as the fates of several characters were seemingly changed, but did they all once die at Darth Vader's hands?
Rumours have persisted for years that there's an alternate ending to the movie with the Sith Lord making short work of the Rebels, earning vengeance for the Empire after they had successfully transmitted the Death Star plans.
During a recent interview with The Sith Council, Andor star Diego Luna was asked about the rumour. Explaining that a lot of changes were made to Rogue One during production, the actor debunked these claims by confirming the one thing that always stayed the same was the movie's ending.
"The first time I was asked to sit down with the director, in Los Angeles, I was asked into a restaurant, and the restaurant was empty," Luna recalls. "He was giving his back to the wall with his computer open and he asked me to sit down next to him."
"He started telling me a story and kept saying ‘And then this girl, and then this guy, and then this girl, and then this guy...’ And started showing me drawings and concept art, and then at the end, I was like ‘Why is he phrasing it that way?’ And he goes like ‘I want you to play the guy’. And I go like, 'What?' Then he said, ‘If you want to, now we have to convince everyone else, but I would love to do this with you.’ And I said like ‘Wow, perfect. I would love to.’"
"And the story he pitched me is the one we saw, in terms of beginning and end," the actor concluded. "Many things changed on the way but not the end."
It's a shame this deleted scene isn't sitting somewhere in the bowels of Lucasfilm waiting to be released, but we really can't fault the ending we got back in 2016. Rogue One remains one of the best Star Wars movies released during this Disney era, and both Cassian and Vader's respective stories have been touched on again elsewhere since then.
What did you guys think about Rogue One's explosive conclusion?