Next up in Entertainment Weekly’s “Rogue One Revelations” series is this piece that provides us with details on how Darth Vader was supposed to kill off one of the main characters from the film in an early draft of the script. If you haven’t seen Rogue One yet, you may want to stop reading at this point.
According to screenwriter Gary Whitta, one of the main characters was initially proposed to have survived the Scarif devastation and seemingly saved.
On the contrary. Copied below is the specific part that deals with the death of this major character, but take the supplied source link for the full read and be sure to check out EW’s article from yesterday that dives into the film’s alternate ending.
Had the filmmakers continued pursuing this storyline, Krennic would have been recovered along with presumably other valuable artifacts belonging to the Empire’s special weapons division.
“He survived the blast and they pulled him up and brought him to the Star Destroyer to report to Vader,” Whitta says. “He’s all beat up, his cape’s all torn up and stuff, and he thinks he has survived.”
Except this time, Vader isn’t just wielding deadly puns.
Krennic thinks he has endured. He thinks he has served valiantly for the Emperor. He thinks he has done everything right, everything within his power … right up until an unseen force squeezes off the air in his throat.
“Vader kills him for his failure,” Whitta says.
