Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s Darth Vader Scene Was Kept Hidden From The Cast

Gareth Edwards’ brilliant A New Hope prequel, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, finally hits DVD and Blu-ray next week, and some new interviews with the cast and crew are doing the rounds in anticipation of the film’s home release.

ET Online recently published their chat with Riz Ahmed, who plays former imperial pilot turned rebel Bodhi Rook, and the British actor shared a surprising story about the first time the cast sat down together for a screening of the film at the Skywalker Ranch.

One of the most talked-about moments from Rogue One is the scene where Darth Vader mercilessly lays waste to a group of Rebel soldiers in an effort to recover the Death Star plans that the main characters had just sacrificed themselves to steal. This sequence finally gave fans a look at the Dark Lord of the Sith in all his ruthless glory, displaying the full extent of his powers… and the cast had no idea it was going to be a part of the movie.

Ahmed explains that the epilogue was a complete surprise to everyone, and they reacted to its awesomeness accordingly:

They kept that from us. That was never in the script. We didn’t know about it! It was the first time we saw it, so it was like, ‘Oh okay, the film’s finished… Darth Vader? Epilogue? Uh.. .What is going on here?” and we just all started shouting, and cheering and clapping in a screening room — Yeah, that was a sneaky one, that was sneaky.

This just goes to show that sometimes, even those directly involved in a film’s production aren’t privy to all of its secrets.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is currently available on Digital HD, and will be yours to own on Bu-ray and DVD on April 4.