A lot of thought went into building the background of Rogue One — despite the fact that it itself is derived from one line of backstory that came from another, previous movie. The movie introduced audiences to entirely new planets, characters, and spaceships, as well as a friendly new droid that quickly became a fan-favorite due to his dry, sarcastic humor. Alan Tudyk, who voices K-2SO, and Animation Supervisor Hal Hickel recently revealed what went into building the droid’s backstory.

Rogue One audiences were somewhat surprised at the theater when the movie returned us to planet Mustafar for one scene between Sith Lord Darth Vader and Director Orson Krennic. Vader floats inside his bacta tank, soaking up nutrients while contemplating the Rebels’ demise from the security of his Barad-dûr-like fortress of evil. It’s a fun image, and one that we might see again. But probably minus Vader.

Star Wars Rebels has come to yet another temporary close with Season 3 finale “Zero Hour,” dealing the title heroes a harsh blow, and moving us one step closer to the Star Wars films. To wit, producers promise both Rogue One’s Saw Gerrera and Mon Mothma will return in Season 4, which already has its first concept art.

For most actors — and, just, people in general — getting a part in a Star Wars movie seems like a dream. It’s the kind of opportunity that makes an actor sweat about getting their lines right in their audition tapes, or send videos of, say, 14 different versions of the character to the director to show their range. Riz Ahmed, who played cargo pilot Bodhi Rook, was maybe a little overly enthusiastic during the audition process.

If you didn’t already guess by the Star Wars news this week, Rogue One was almost very different. Ahead of the film’s digital video release on Friday, Entertainment Weekly has been dropping tons of exclusives about the spinoff that could’ve been. We learned that Darth Vader almost killed off a major character, the film’s original happier ending, then another crazy alternate ending, and a backstory for Jyn’s mom. Today brings news not of a scrapped scene, but a scrapped character.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be yours to digitally purchase (or rent, if you still like to give things the ol’ test-drive first) this Friday, and to celebrate, the filmmakers are really leaning into all those reports of reshoots and story changes by sharing unused plot points and alternate endings — like the somewhat happier conclusion Jyn Erso & Co. had in an earlier draft of the script. Today’s additions to the pile of discarded Rogue One ideas include an interesting backstory for Jyn’s mom and an even crazier alternate ending.

Even before those highly-publicized reshoots, Rogue One went through several story changes during development, which isn’t unusual for the majority of films, especially big blockbusters. Just yesterday we learned more details about the original, somewhat happier ending to the flagship installment in Lucasfilm’s A Star Wars Story series, but that was far from the only change made during the scripting stage.

When pals asked, “What was your favorite part of Rogue One?” and I responded, “The part at the end when they all died,” it sounded like a bitter joke. But it‘s true — the choice to take advantage of the film’s stand-alone nature by concluding with the cast’s noble, obliterating sacrifice was a bold and decisive storytelling choice that helped distinguish Gareth Evans’ film from the rest of the franchise. The characters meant more in death than they ever did while living, and the selflessness of their risky suicide mission attests to the power of the human spirit in wartime. But this was not always the game plan.

Now that we’ve thoroughly put the matter of Darth Maul vs. Obi-Wan Kenobi to bed, Star Wars Rebels is gearing up for Season 3's hour-long endgame. See for yourself in the first trailer, as Thrawn makes his final strike on the Rebels, a familiar face returns, and a few Rogue One baddies come out to play.

The final few moments of Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One are jam-packed with surprises. First Darth Vader storms onto the scene wielding his red lightsaber, which the director revealed was a last-minute addition. Then Princess Leia suddenly appears to acquire the Death Star plans. Not everyone was a fan of the CGI-created Leia – some of us here at ScreenCrush found the visual effects to be a but creepy – but most importantly, Carrie Fisher gave the scene her blessing.