The Original Star Wars: Rogue One Ending Was Super Cliché

Despite, or perhaps, because of the reshoots and rewrites Star Wars: Rogue One went through, we got the movie we have today and because of that, the movie is perhaps better than it would have been. Here's how the original ending would have been

Spoilers to Star Wars: Rogue One below!

The final ending of Rogue One is sad, dramatic and climactic. Basically, everyone dies to get the plans to the Rebels. But before Gareth Edwards knew Disney would 'okay' the brutal ending he wanted, it originally played out a lot different.

Gary Whitta told Entertainment Weekly about the original, much happier ending where most of the crew of Rogue One survived. “A rebel ship came down and got them off the surface,” Whitta explains, “The transfer of the plans happened later. They jumped away and later [Leia’s] ship came in from Alderaan to help them. The ship-to-ship data transfer happened off Scarif.”

Originally, Darth Vader was meant to have a different appearance at the end. He would destroy the rebel ship that rescued the group, but wouldn't quite manage to kill them in some sort of movie "Oh sure, that happened" kind of magic. “They got away in an escape pod just in time. The pod looked like just another piece of debris.” Meh.

While the ending of Rogue One was sad, it was fitting and made it more memorable. It also set the mood for the first 5 minutes of A New Hope perfectly, which the original cut wouldn't have.  “We decided they should die on the surface [of Scarif] and that was the way it ended. We were constantly trying to make all the pieces fit together. We tried every single idea. Eventually, through endless development you get through an evolutionary process where the best version rises to the top.”

An interesting tidbit about Scarif. Did you know the planet was named after a coffee screw up between shoots?