If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’ve likely watched each of the Rogue One trailers about a dozen times, or maybe even more. There’s nothing quite like sitting down and attempting to dissect a movie’s plot ahead of time just from the short mini-snippets we’re offered in the teasers. Sadly, due to the number of reshoots director Gareth Edwards decided on, much of the footage in the trailers isn’t actually in the film itself, and there are some huge omissions. Warning: Spoilers follow below!
Most of the changes made to the final theatrical release of Rogue One aren’t game changers, but they definitely add up. Plenty of dialogue-heavy scenes were altered and lines were changed or removed entirely, for example:
- Jyn never says “This is a rebellion isn’t it? I rebel.”
- Imperial big shot Orson Krennic never explains to Darth Vader that “The power we are dealing with here is immeasurable.”
- New droid star K-2SO never tells the team that “There is a 97.6 percent chance fo failure.”
- K-2SO also never confronts Jyn with the line “The captain says you are a friend. I will not kill you.”
- Veteran rebel Saw Gerrera never asks “What will you do when they catch you? What will you do when they break you? If you continue to fight, what will you become?”
Then there are some actual, meaningful alterations to the story itself, including where characters go and what they do. Those include:
- Krennic never inspects the dead Stormtroopers on the Scarif beach.
- Niether Jyn nor Cassian actually battle on the beach at all, despite being shown dodging AT-ATs in the trailer.
- Jyn and Cassian never run through an Imperial base in their rebel clothing.
These are all kind of disappointing omissions, but they’re understandable and can be overlooked in the context of the story that plays out. However, there’s one scene that didn’t make it into the final film that is more heart breaking than all the others combined. If you can stomach it, feast your eyes on a small glimpse of what could have been one of best David vs. Goliath battles ever to grace the silver screen:
It’s an undeniable crime to cut such a downright awesome shot from the movie, and it’s not just the shot itself; Jyn never actually battles a Tie Fighter at any point during the big heist. She does find herself on the top of the tower you see in this clip, but things don’t play out anything like what the trailer leads us to believe. Maybe we’ll finally get to see how things could have played out when the inevitable deleted scenes montage pops up, but until then we’ll just have to dream.
