Concept art shows Rogue One’s cast could’ve looked much different

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

I know I've mentioned my apathy and general "meh-ness" towards ROGUE ONE before. But that doesn't mean I didn't think it had good ideas or cool stuff in it, just that (in my opinion) a lot of it seemed either half-baked or inconsequential.

Now, it's no surprise that movies usually look much different when they're first pitched then they do when they are actually released to the drooling masses pounding popcorn, hand-over-fist. But some projects go through longer, and more extreme, growing pains than others. And if ROGUE ONE were a person, it would be that kid who had a looong and awkward puberty, with the scars to prove it.

This is shown more explicitly in the concept art from the book THE ART OF ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY by Josh Kushins. All of it is pretty fascinating, but one of the more intriguing initial designs is one that reveals what the original team was supposed to look like:

Wow, those aliens are cool! And besides looking cool, I think it would have made a lot of sense to have more aliens as main characters (as opposed to one-off bit players in the background, like that awesome lizard guy on the beach), since it seems to be clear that the Rebels are diverse and multi-faceted, while the Empire seem to be made up of stuffy white dudes (nope, no allegory there. No siree). And also, holy shit, two main female characters? What do they think this is, 2016? Though it also looks like there's no analogous Asian characters that would've been played by Donnie Yen or Jiang Wen, so that's a bit of a bummer (as they were a highlight for me).

Other details are revealed in Kushin's book as well, such as how Krennic was actually an Imperial spy within the team, and that it had a more spy/espionage feel than the final product.

There are also other interesting bits throughout the book, like how Jyn had a little brother to take care of at one point, or there being an entire scrapped planet that housed the dish to the Death Star.

However, for nerdy obsessives like me, the book does in fact confirm that Darth Vader's castle is indeed built in Mustafar. Which seems kinda weird, unless you think of it as Vader giving a giant middle finger to the planet f*cked him over, then that makes a bit more sense. Or else maybe the rent is just really cheap.

Either way, ROGUE ONE is sneaking the Death Star plans in theaters now!