Rogue One: A Star Wars Story underwent major reshoots which changed the entire final act, but the movie's writers have now revealed a pretty major change that took place during the transition from page to screen. We're not entirely sure when this happened, but Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz made a jaw-dropping reveal during a recent interview with IGN.
They explain that the original plan was for Cassian Andor to be a double agent working for the Empire. "He was always meant to be compromised," Weitz revealed. "In Gary and my versions, he was severely compromised." Whitta adds: "He was a double agent."
Interestingly, the writers would go on to explain that Saw Gererra killing members of Andor's family is what led to him helping the Empire. "For a long time, he was working for the Empire," Weitz says. "I think this was a rationale that I added in, was that he had lost people who had been killed by Saw Gererra. And all he wanted from the Empire was the go-ahead and the ability to kill Saw Gererra, rather than Galen Erso."
"And that kind of transmogrified along the lines - post-me and Gary - into a Rebel intelligence officer who had done terrible things. And here, he chooses not to."
"He was a rebel soldier who was secretly working for Krennic," Whitta continued. "But then, as he grew closer to Jyn and realized that the Empire had built this weapon, he's like 'I never signed up for this! I didn't sign up for killing planets!' He has a change of heart, and flips to the Rebel side. But that's after he's exposed as a spy. And at that point, in the third act, he has to win Jyn's trust back."
"That was all fun, that was all interesting. I think they actually shot some of that stuff early on. But I think this version ended up being more nuanced and more interesting."
It's interesting to hear that some of those scenes were shot, and it just goes to show how many changes were made while production was taking place. Had Andor actually ended up being revealed as a spy for the Empire, you have to believe that the Cassian Andor series coming to Disney+ would have been even more interesting (certainly more than just learning how he became a Rebel).
We could still see some hints of that, but do you think this version of Rogue One sounds better?