Star Wars: Rogue One’s Princess Leia Shot Was Final Footage Completed

This month marked five years since Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was released. In honor of this special anniversary, director Gareth Edwards had an extensive chat with StarWars.com about making the hit movie. Edwards talked about everything from his initial skepticism over the movie’s plot to why filming Darth Vader is similar to filming a car commercial. During the interview, Edwards also talked about the infamous ending which featured the return of Princess Leia. One of the most surprising aspects of the film, both story-wise and technologically-wise, was how it ended right where the original Star Wars began. The scene featured actor Ingvild Delia standing in for Carrie Fisher. Turns out, the shot was the last thing in the movie to be completed. 

“When you make these films, you have to do what’s called a turnover to ILM, where you basically give them shots to work on,” Edwards explained. “The first one we ever did was Princess Leia. We turned it over during filming. It was the very first thing we gave them and it was the very last shot they delivered at the very end of the whole process. So they, in theory, worked on that shot for nearly a year and a half or something. I don’t know if it really was that, but that’s technically what it felt like.”

During the interview, Edwards also revealed that he never met Fisher, who sadly passed away less than two weeks after Rogue One was released. 

“No, I didn’t [meet her]. The closest I got, I got to visit the set of The Force Awakens, and we were hanging out there for half a day or something,” Edwards shared. “I remember being by the trailers and Carrie came out from the makeup trailer, I guess, just brushed right past me to go in. There were a lot of people [standing] around, so she went just right past me to head on to the set. I remember just, like anyone would, doing a double-take and looking at everyone else going, ‘Oh, my God! That was Carrie Fisher!’ 

As for Rogue One, the upcoming Disney+ series, Star Wars: Andor, follows Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor and takes place five years before Edwards’ film. A new casting rumor suggests Andy Serkis is returning as the villainous Supreme Leader Snoke. While the rumor has yet to be confirmed, Luna has confirmed Andor will see some familiar faces to Star Wars fans.

“You’ll definitely see familiar faces,” Luna told Deadline. “I can tell you about this project like no other because I can’t spoil the ending if you’ve seen [Rogue One] already. No matter what I say, I can’t ruin the ending.”

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is now streaming on Disney+ with its prequel series, . If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

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