Star Wars: Lucasfilm Exec Reminds Fans How Many Famous Shots Were “Reshoots”

Due in large part to the speed of the internet, there’s a massive disconnect between audiences and the filmmaking process, as fans can be quick to jump to conclusions based on misinterpretations, spreading these falsehoods far and wide. One major example of this misinformation is the process of “reshoots” on a film, with most productions scheduling additional photography at the end of a shoot before the first scene has even been filmed. However, a number of fans interpret these scheduled reshoots as being a studio wanting to “fix” what was originally filmed, though Lucasfilm‘s Pablo Hidalgo recently compiled a number of shots from the original trilogy of films that are regarded as integral and iconic, but were captured during the “reshoot” process, helping clarify how helpful this stage of production can be for the overall product.

The entire thread is worth perusing, as it contains a number of seminal moments from the original trilogy that weren’t captured during principal photography. Additionally, Hidalgo would go on to offer even more insight into the specifics of scenes from the prequel trilogy of films, pointing out just how much time had passed behind-the-scenes from one shot to the next. In some cases, shots were secured just months before a film’s release, as others were filmed after entire sets had been torn down, requiring interior sets to be recreated digitally.

Especially over the past decade, when bystanders are able to uncover leaked images and spread them across social media, fans have been able to observe movies and TV shows coming together in real-time. This also means that comparisons can be made from what was captured during principal photography to additional photography, leading to wild speculation about why changes might have been made and what might have been wrong with the original footage.

Between films like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Justice League, the past decade has also seen notable examples of filmmakers publicly acknowledging that their films underwent changes during reshoots, adding only more fuel to the speculative fires about the nature of the process. With Rogue One earning massive financial and critical success, some audiences assume the film was “fixed” during reshoots and that there were major problems with the original cut, while Zack Snyder had been so vocal about changes made during reshoots that, almost four years after Justice League hit theaters, he released Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max, capturing his original vision for the experience.

If nothing else, this detailed breakdown of scenes and shots that were secured after principal photography should help remind fans that not all reshoots are the same, this process could be relatively minimal to secure specific shots, and that the ultimate goal of both a studio and a filmmaker is to deliver audiences the best version of that story they can, even if that approach evolves from the plans at the beginning of the shoot to witnessing the results of an assembly cut of a film, when a filmmaker might realize what the adventure might be lacking.

The next Star Wars film expected to hit theaters is Patty Jenkins’ Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, which is set to debut in December of 2023.