Yesterday we shared details on the original ending of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. That ending featured a much happier outcome for Jyn and Cassian as they were supposed to survive. However, there’s another character in the original version of the film that met a much more sinister demise at the hands of Darth Vader.  

In an earlier draft of the script, Director Krennic, who was played by Ben Mendelsohn, originally survived the battle on Scarif as well and eventually found himself face to face with Vader, and Vader was pissed.

It’s explained that “instead of lying wounded on a transmission platform while the green beam of the Death Star literally incinerates him on its trajectory into the planet, Krennic found shelter from the blast.” From there, Empire forces find him in the rubble and take him back to the Star Destroyer. Whitta explains: 

“He survived the blast and they pulled him up and brought him to the Star Destroyer to report to Vader. He’s all beat up, his cape’s all torn up and stuff, and he thinks he has survived.”

Of course, Vader isn’t very pleased with how everything turned out, so as Whitta puts it:

“Vader kills him for his failure.”

The site goes on to say, “he thinks he has done everything right, everything within his power … right up until an unseen force squeezes off the air in his throat.” As gratifying as it would have been to see Vader kill Krennic, the whole series of events leading up to that moment just doesn’t work. The fact that he survived the Death Star blast in the first place is ridiculous. Whitta himself says, “It’s a bit of a reach, which is why it isn’t in the finished film.”

The creative team made the right move when they ditched this idea and decided to have him killed in the Death Star blast.