To this day, Darth Vader's infamous "hallway scene" from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story remains one of the film's standout moments. Interestingly, it seems that most movies with a "hallway scene" tend to share a similar situation. Many fans are likely already aware that this particular scene was added rather late in the movie's production. But what they may not know is that another potentially gripping scene featuring the Dark Lord of the Sith was cut during production.
Hal Hickel, animation director at Industrial Light & Magic (the VFX studio that inspired countless others to take a crack at Star Wars), tweeted out a possibly unfamiliar image of Vader, calling it a "Rogue memory." The shot shows the imposing villain silhouetted against a large screen in a dark room while an unidentified figure stands off to the side in shadow. Eagle-eyed fans with particularly sharp memories may recognize the shot from Rogue One's earlier trailers, and it turns out the scene wasn't just created for the promotional value.
Hickel responded to a fan's reply to the image, where the question "Was there a scene actually shot here or just this shot for the trailer?" was posed. "Yes," Hickel replied. "There was a conversation between Vader and Tarkin that ended up out of the film." Tarkin was famously recreated in the computer-generated likeness of late actor Peter Cushing, who played the character in 1977's Star Wars: A New Hope. But in the final version of Rogue One, Vader and Tarkin never ended up interacting despite their extensive-time sharing the screen in the original film.
The shot itself may also look a bit familiar to long time Star Wars fans, as the large retro-looking screen appears to mirror one shown in A New Hope, specifically when Tarkin and the other officers on the Death Star are observing the battle over Yavin IV. Naturally, things didn't turn out all that well for the Imperial officers involved, but this could suggest that Vader was originally intended to appear on the Death Star itself in Rogue One rather than simply on his base of fiery brooding on the planet Mustafar.
In a world begging for new Star Wars information, this is likely a tiny but welcome thirst quencher for some fans. Even though there are several new Star Wars projects currently in the works, such as a spin-off to Rogue One featuring Cassian Andor, details on them are scarce, leaving enthusiasts to scrounge for whatever they can get. Certain productions like the upcoming Kenobi series on Disney Plus are the sources of endless speculation, so every little bit helps.
Of course, the bright side is that this means there's plenty of Star Wars content to go around, even if it will take a bit to get here. So hopefully fans can exercise a bit of patience while waiting for their next fix in a galaxy far, far away.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is now available on Disney Plus.
Source: Hal Hickel/Twitter