"Rogue One" scoop: Ben Mendelsohn's Krennic was originally supposed to be killed by Darth Vader and his light saber

Last year, I had a very popular piece entitled "What Really Happened On the Set of Rogue One." It ran a few months before "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" would come out. It turned out to be the site's most popular article ever. An insider close to the production had given us a glimpse of the chaotic production that was happening within the film's shoot. Suffice to say, and we won't go into all the details, but multiple version of the film exist, deleted scenes that supposedly number in the hundreds, and every time somebody from the film talks about it, it always turns out to be a fascinating conversation. I basically can't resist posting about the behind-the-scenes of the film, which looked compeltely overwhelming and frustrating for its cast and crew.

Here is an exercpt I caught from Entertainment Weekly talking about Ben Mendolsohn's Krennic and how his demise was orignally supposed to be through Darth Vader's light saber:

"Picture this: the Death Star shows up on the horizon of Scarif and does the same partial blast that we see in the finished movie — scorching the surface of the tropical world and demolishing the Rebel uprising along with the Empire’s weapons facility."

"Back in this version of the story, Jyn Erso and the character we came to know as Cassian Andor escaped with both the data tapes and their lives. The villain of the story, Director Krennic also survived the battle, although barely."

"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. In what sounds like a type of epilogue to the story, we would have seen his rescue by Imperial forces."

"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."

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” hits digital on Friday, and physical formats on April 4th.

[EW]