Industrial Light & Magic Animation Director Hal Hickel recently shared a series of behind-the-scenes photos from the set of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but there's one, in particular, that's really grabbed the attention of fans. Darth Vader was a highlight in the movie, with each of his scenes serving as standout moments. However, there's one that didn't make the cut.
After sharing the shot of Vader below, Hickel responded to a fan by explaining that the Sith Lord was originally set to meet with Grand Moff Tarkin. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember the dialogue, and revealed that it was scrapped because it didn't fit into the direction the story eventually went.
This could be a result of reshoots, of course, as much has been said about what's believed to have been an extensive round of additional photography over the years.
In a recent interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Galen Erso actor Mads Mikkelsen shared his take on those reshoots.
"Some of it was a little chaotic," he admitted. "There was no secret that there was some rewriting in the script while we were doing it. And when you do that...it is obviously very tricky for the actors to know 'What am I carrying into this room now? I opened the door. I'm not back to what happened before.' So there was some of that."
"Having said that, it always felt like a solid story," Mikkelsen continued. "A young girl lost, [who] doesn't know where she belongs in the world. Then an Oppenheimer story unfolds. She's always heard he [Galen] was this, and then she realizes he was that. And it was quite beautifully written. At the end of the day, the changes that were in the film were not as dramatic as people talk about. It was tweaks, but obviously if you do it while you're working it can be confusing."
In recent years, Rogue One has been widely praised as the best Star Wars movie from the Lucasfilm era, and we'll get a chance to revisit this corner of this Galaxy Far, Far Away in Disney+'s Andor.
Check out that Darth Vader photo below: