Star Wars: Rogue One originally had a happier ending - but Disney changed it

It goes without saying that if you haven’t seen Star Wars: Rogue One then now is the time to punch the back button and retreat somewhere far, far away (or check out the Rogue One concept art then, y’know, go and see it).

Director Gareth Edwards has spoken to Digital Spy about the movie’s first draft and, instead of everyone dying, Jyn and Cassian lived happily ever after. Aww.

Edwards, though, wasn’t happy with it: "Jyn and Cassian survived and we assumed that there was no way on Earth that we would be allowed to kill them off. It didn't feel right – the ideal was that everybody sacrifices themselves.”

Thankfully for lovers of tragic endings, Disney agreed with Edwards when shown the first draft as Edwards explains, "[W]e presented it to [Lucasfilm president Kathleen] Kennedy and the studio and she said, 'Well, shouldn't they all die?' And we were thinking, 'Yeah, but can we do that?' They were like, 'Yeah – you can do whatever you want'.”

Studios normally like making things more crowd-pleasing, but not this time. So if you’re looking for someone to blame for making you cry then blame the House of Mouse. Obviously.

Star Wars: Rogue One is in cinemas now.

Image: Lucasfilm/ILM