Rogue One: A Star Wars Story's Main Cast Almost Looked Completely Different

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" introduced a new cast of scrappy heroes and villains to the galaxy far, far away. But while Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), and their band of allies led the Rebel Alliance to victory, a different cast of characters was initially set to populate the soon-to-be billion-dollar blockbuster. 

The Josh Kushins-authored book "The Art of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" offers an expansive deep dive into the film's origins. The project got its start at as a Manhattan Project-inspired treatment by visual effects artist John Knoll entitled "Destroyer of Worlds." The pitch would retain some of the cast who show up in the final movie such as Jyn Erso, K-2SO (voiced by Alan Tudyk), and antagonist Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), with the latter initially planned to be a spy who infiltrates the Rebel's operation. 

However, it also included other characters who now only exist through a piece of concept art by Christian Alzmann. Rebel pilot Ria Talla and crew members Jerris Kestal and Dray Nevis would have rounded out the human cast. Giant green alien Lunak and his diminutive companion Senna were intended to play a similar role as Han Solo and Chewbacca in the original saga. After numerous alterations, the two were taken out and replaced with rebels Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen), and Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen). 

This, and many other changes, were implemented once "Godzilla" and "The Creator" filmmaker Gareth Edwards was brought on board as director. However, even the final cast of characters would see their fate altered during the film's production. 

Fans may never know what characters like Ria Talla, Lunak, and Senna would have added to "Rogue One," but it's safe to say that they were saved from a grizzly end. The noble sacrifice of Jyn Erso and company on Scarif in an effort to send out the Death Star plans paints the team as galaxy-wide heroes. However, the team behind "Rogue One" feared that this outcome would hamper the film, only to be surprised by Disney's response to the gripping conclusion. 

The ending originally had the characters survive their treacherous ordeal, with Gareth Edwards explaining to Empire (via Gizmodo), "The very first version, they didn't [die]. In the screenplay. And it was just assumed by us that we couldn't do that. 'They're not going to let us do that.' So I was trying to figure out how this ends where that doesn't happen." Among sharing the script, Edwards' colleagues felt that leaving the heroes alive at the end didn't make much sense. Thankfully, this sentiment was also held by Lucasfilm and Disney executives alike. "We thought we weren't going to be allowed to but Kathy [Kennedy] and everyone at Disney were like, 'Yeah it makes sense/ I guess they have to because they're not in 'A New Hope,'" Edwards continued. "And so from that point on we had the license." 

Suffice it to say, the decision was the right one. Even if getting to this point meant removing some potentially interesting characters, the final result birthed a "Star Wars" entry that remains a fan-favorite.