Rogue One originally had a very different ending. Thankfully it was changed, or their record-breaking December release may not have actually happened. Because the would-have-been ending may not have been as poetic as the one we got.
Major Rogue One: A Star Wars Story spoilers below. You have been warned.
After man extensive reshoots, Rogue One came to be what it is today. Many times, reshoots don't mean good things for films, but in this case, it was to fix what the director initially played too softly. As those who have seen the movie (AGAIN, SPOILERS) we know that all the main characters die, along with the whole planet of Scarif. The original draft did not have them dying in the end, having at least Cassian and Jyn survive somehow.
This was tossed out as soon as director Gareth Edwards got the "okay" to flip the kill-switch from Disney, he tells Empire. "We thought we weren’t going to be allowed to but Kathy [Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm] and everyone at Disney were like ‘Yeah it makes sense. I guess they have to because they’re not in A New Hope.”
It turns out, the survival ending wasn't even shot but was just an idea that thankfully never made it to fruition. Edwards actually wanted them to have perished the whole time but had just assumed Disney wouldn't allow it. Little did he know, Disney was already thinking the same thing he was: They're not in A New Hope, they're gone.
People keep thinking Disney will "Disney-fy" the intellectual properties they keep buying up, but so far it hasn't seemed to be the case. In fact, Rogue One and Force Awakens more closely resemble the original trilogy than the prequels did, and those were made by Lucas himself.
Do you think the original ending of Rogue One would have significantly changed the overall reception of the movie?
