Star Wars: The Last Jedi was the longest instalment in the franchise to date but that doesn't mean there weren't still a lot of deleted scenes! In a new interview, writer and director Rian Johnson has broken down five of those, shedding some light on what they consisted of and what led to his decision to cut them from the divisive movie. Honestly, though, all of these would have been great to see.
It's a good job then that they'll all be available on the upcoming Blu-ray release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi! However, that's not reaching stores until March 27th which means we have quite some time to wait to see them. By clicking below, you'll be able to look at new images from the scenes along with the details we mentioned above so check them out and share your thoughts in the usual place.
Rey's Message To Finn
As Finn considers abandoning the Resistance, he's found by BB-8 and the droid shows him a hologram of Rey saying an emotional goodbye to her friend while he was unconscious after being beaten by Kylo Ren. Apparently, the scene was shot to remind moviegoers about the relationship between the two as they're (frustratingly) rarely seen on screen together throughout Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Apparently, the sequence would have ended with a joke as Finn would have turned to the droid (who actually recorded this exchange in secret), and said:"That’s kind of creepy you recorded that."
"I was looking for any opportunity I could to emotionally connect those two," the filmmaker explains. "I thought it was a really sweet little scene. I loved John Boyega’s performance in it. Ultimately it was meant to explain his motivation for going [to find Rey and quit the Resistance], but we realized that you understood his motivation, because he tells it to Rose. Once we realized we could get away without it, it was something that just naturally fell away." It should still be fun to watch, though!
Rey Learns A Hard Lesson
After spending some time with Luke Skywalker in Ahch-To's temple, Rey notices a line of lights arriving by sea. They're heading towards the Caretakers' village and Luke explains that they're here to raid the village and points out that even of Rey stops them, they'll just return angrier and stronger than ever before. A true Jedi would let it just happen but she quickly runs down to help.
Was this the third lesson Luke was talking about? It may sound that way but not according to Johnson! "Originally it was just a breaking point for her. Okay, he’s gone too far. This is the point where she finally says, ‘Okay, if you’re not gonna help, then I’ve wasted too much time here."
That division was supposed to further alienate Rey but the director decided that having Luke find them communicating would make for a more powerful moment which highlighted the fact he wasn't getting through to his new student as well as he probably could and should have been.
"In her next-to-last Force connection she has with Kylo, which is the very intense one, the context for that was her coming off this rejection and angry moment with Luke," he explains in regards to it being cut. "When we take that segment out, suddenly she’s coming into that Force connection after leaving things in a hopeful place with Luke, at the end of the temple lesson."
"It’s much more of a crushing reversal when Luke finds her in the hut [talking to Kylo,]" Johnson concludes. "You get the sense that she and Luke were actually making progress, as opposed to, oh, things were screwed up." The movie didn't really miss this one but it sounds like it would have been a great sequence and an opportunity for Rey to show off her abilities.
Luke Skywalker Mourns Han Solo
We never got to see Luke's reaction to learning that Han Solo is dead but this deleted scene would have taken place in his hut as he sat there alone and shed a tear over the demise of his old friend. While that was happening, the action would have then switched to Leia sitting in a similar pose, suggesting that the brother and sister were both sharing a moment of grief for their fallen friend.
"We realized just for pacing in that section we had to stick with Rey and Luke, and we wanted just to go straight from him slamming the door of the hut into the day-in-the-life montage, of him going around the island," says Johnson when asked why it was cut. "Taking that bit out suddenly propelled us forward into that segment in a way that just felt much better for the film."
"I was very sorry to lose it," the filmmaker concludes. "I think it’s a beautiful performance from Mark Hamill. But I think that we get a similar beat with him, later when he’s in the Falcon with R2."
A Familiar Face
There's no image from this scene but it sounds like this is the cameo shot by Tom Hardy. It starts when Finn is recognised by another Stormtrooper who just can't believe that his old friend from Starkiller Base has been promoted to officer status ahead of him. However, this scene also reveals that The First Order has covered up the fact that one of their own was involved with the base's destruction.
"The implication from the exchange is that this was obviously an embarrassment that this happened with Finn, and that First Order didn’t let the info get out, as much as they could. The tension is broken by the fact that he doesn’t really know the story of what happened with Finn."
Showdown With Captain Phasma
Captain Phasma's death in Star Wars: The Last Jedi was actually the rest of reshoots and while we don't have an image of the original version, Johnson reveals that it would have seen Finn beaten down by the villain and surrounded by Stormtroopers. However, once Finn reveals her act of cowardice, she quickdraws on her subordinates and as she and Finn resume their battle, she's hit by a blast and sent into the crumbling hangar bay. So, why the change? "Pacing. Entirely pacing," Johnson says.
"I really like the little moment of Phasma being caught and getting called out by John, and that little game of chess that they have," he says. "But we needed a much more condensed version of that scene, where essentially it’s the same outcome." As for whether or not Phasma could return somewhere down the line, Johnson compares her to Kenny in South Park but refuses to say more!