Darth Vader almost killed off a main character in 'Rogue One'
But Entertainment Weekly reveals that in one of the early scripts Vader was portrayed as even more sinister.
Speaking to "Rogue One" screenwriter Gary Whitta, who wrote the earliest versions of the script before it was passed to Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy, said that in one version Vader has another encounter with Director Krennic (played by Ben Mendelsohn).
According to Whitta, in the version of the script that had a "happy ending," in which Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) make it off the tropical planet Scarif with the Death Star plans, so too does Krennic, though he's been injured by the Death Star blast that hit the planet. (Wait, a person can survive a blast from the Death Star? Hey, it never made it into the movie, so let's move on.)
"He survived the blast and they pulled him up and brought him to the Star Destroyer to report to Vader," Whitta said. "He's all beat up, his cape's all torn up and stuff, and he thinks he has survived."
Nope. Vader, who already had to put Krennic in check earlier in the movie when the director went to Vader's castle to try to undermine Grand Moff Tarkin, is now fed up with Krennic and uses the Force to choke him to death.
"Vader kills him for his failure," Whitta said.