The narrative surrounding Rogue One‘s production has become a difficult one to parse. On the one hand, we have the likes of Ben Mendelsohn reflecting on what it was like to experience the alleged creative changes on a ground level, including the days spent shooting “vastly different” scenes under Tony Gilroy, who was drafted in to essentially shepherd the Star Wars spinoff movie across the finish line.
That was three months ago, when Mendelsohn stated that, after viewing Rogue One‘s final cut, he had located “enormous differences within 20 or 30 of the scenes.” That’s a fairly significant overhaul, and the actor’s comments lend credence to most, if not all of the reports that emerged suggesting that Gareth Edwards’ anthology movie had encountered creative turbulence mid-way through production.
Either way, the end result was a billion-dollar juggernaut, one that wowed audiences the world over. Now that the dust has settled, though, fans are chomping at the bit to see those Rogue One deleted scenes in action. If you’re one of the many holding out hope of seeing an alternate cut, we’ve got some bad news: Gareth Edwards conceded in a recent interview with Fandango that it’s unlikely those scenes in question will ever see the light of day – and with good reason.
“They’re not scenes you can just put on a DVD,” Edwards explained. “They’re moments within scenes and threads, and you pull a thread and it changes.”
Those comments contradict the ones made by Ben Mendelsohn back in December, but given Gareth Edwards was very much at ground zero when those creative changes were implemented, we’re inclined to believe that the director has a better understanding of what can and can’t be released via home video.
In what’s shaping up to be a busy month for Disney and Lucasfilm’s rejuvenated franchise, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is expected to zoom onto Blu-ray and DVD on April 4th. Soon thereafter, the Mouse House will stage its annual Star Wars Celebration, where we fully expect to catch the first footage for The Last Jedi and maybe – just maybe – the official title of Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s Han Solo anthology movie. Look for that one to debut on May 25th, 2018.