The iconic ‘Star Wars’ scene that almost didn’t make the cut
In 2016, the Star Wars universe expanded with the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The film, helmed by Gareth Edwards, formed a prequel to the first Star Wars effort, later dubbed A New Hope. Starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Mads Mikkelsen and Riz Ahmed, the plot followed an early faction of the Rebel Alliance as they claimed their first victory over the Empire.
The movie marked a change in style for the Star Wars series, losing the opening credits scroll and the swipe transitions. This look reflected the more solemn tone of the spin-off. Despite the film’s divergence from its predecessors, Edwards did maintain a level of respect for the original Star Wars story and characters. In fact, a few of them are even featured in the film.
Two of the film’s most memorable moments come towards the end of its runtime, including a cameo from a digitally recreated Carrie Fisher. But before Princess Leia concludes the movie to lead perfectly into A New Hope, Edwards includes a short appearance from Darth Vader himself.
In a monumental hallway scene, we hear Darth Vader’s masked, heavy breathing before the reveal of the iconic red lightsaber. He glides through the corridor, taking out rebels with ease using the force and his lightsaber. The scene has become one of the film’s most memorable, but it almost didn’t make the cut.
In an interview with Fandango, director Gareth Edwards explained the original scene, which was written without Darth Vader, “He arrives and obliterates the Calamari ship, and then the blockade runner gets out just in time and he pursues the blockade runner. And then Jabez was like, ‘I think we need to get Darth on that ship,’ and I thought, yeah, that’s a brilliant idea and would love to do it, but there’s no way they’re going to let us do it.”
With approximately four months until the release date, Edwards thought the vision for the scene was unrealistic. But, he recalls, “Kathy [Kennedy] came in and Jabez thought, fuck it, and pitched her this idea, and she loved it. Suddenly within a week or two we were at Pinewood shooting that scene.”
Edwards added, “Because it was my last chance to do Star Wars, and because you know it’s the end, we really were very careful with it. We storyboarded absolutely everything and tried to have no regrets.”
The director concluded, “It just felt right; it felt like the right thing to do. It really is just the greatest hits of Darth; that corridor. And we really didn’t want to do anything you haven’t seen him do so it didn’t throw people off. We kept it to what had been established.”
This decision served the filmmakers well, and it was definitely the right thing to do for audiences, who were overjoyed at the return of the iconic Star Wars villain. Placed amidst a film so tonally different from the rest of the series, the short scene ensured that the feature of Darth Vader didn’t become gimmicky. It was also carefully written to ensure it aligned with the established character, satisfying audiences worldwide.
