Star Wars: Rogue One director says reshoots were planned from the beginning

After director Gareth Edwards started working on reshoots for his upcoming Star Wars film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, speculation began to spread that the film was in trouble. Edwards clarified the rumors in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, however, and said they had plans from the beginning of production to eventually do reshoots.

Edwards said that going into Rogue One's production, they knew they were going to have to come back to capture more footage for the editing process. Edwards said they weren't sure what would need to be reshot because they weren't sure what the movie would need until they started sculpting it in the editing bay. The director added that after sifting through the footage, they were able to get a clearer idea of what the final film should look like, and then ordered the reshoots to make that possible.

Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy echoed Edwards' claims, and added that they haven't changed anything to do with the story, but merely grabbed some more shots to help make the story as coherent as possible for audiences. Kennedy said that the most important thing was to reassure fans that even with the reshoots, the Rogue One that they'll see this December was still the same movie they wanted to make going in.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story marks the first major Star Wars film that won't exist in the same linear universe as the main trilogies. The film follows a group of Rebel soldiers and pilots, including the new Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) as they attempt to steal the plans to the Death Star. Rogue One also marks the return of Darth Vader, who will once again be voiced by James Earl Jones. The film is slated to be released Dec. 16.