'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Deleted Scenes Details: A First Order Cover-Up, Mourning Han Solo & More
The home video release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be available in just under two weeks, longer if you want it on disc. But you don't have to wait until then to find out new details on a few of the 14 deleted scenes you'll be able to watch in the special features.
Among the Star Wars The Last Jedi deleted scenes is a tender (but also creepy) moment between Finn and BB-8, a moment of mourning for Han Solo, and an amusing scene that actually reveals a First Order cover-up. Get the details on these scenes below, but beware of spoilers, obviously.
Thanks to Entertainment Weekly for the Star Wars The Last Jedi deleted scenes and a few images.
BB-8 Plays a Touching Hologram for Finn
One of the earlier scenes cut from The Last Jedi would have seen Finn (John Boyega) struggling to figure out what to do with his life next. Sure, he helped the Resistance out in The Force Awakens, but he's still a defected Stormtrooper on the run from the First Order. Does he really need to keep actively fighting against them? Or should he just go on the lam? While struggling with his decision to possibly leave the Resistance, he gets a push in the right direction from a friend.
BB-8 rolls up next to him and shows him a hologram of the moment from the end of The Force Awakens when Rey (Daisy Ridley) gives him a touching goodbye as he's unconscious in a medical pod following his lightsaber injury at the hands of Kylo Ren. Director Rian Johnson described why this scene initially felt necessary:
"I was looking for any opportunity I could to emotionally connect those two I thought it was a really sweet little scene. I loved John Boyega's performance in it. Ultimately it was meant to explain his motivation for going [to find Rey and quit the Resistance], but we realized that you understood his motivation, because he tells it to Rose. Once we realized we could get away without it, it was something that just naturally fell away."
As sweet as that moment is, you might be thinking that it's a little creepy that BB-8 took it upon himself to record that moment. Or are droids always recording what happens around them? Plus, the movie would have acknowledged that with a line from Finn saying that BB-8's recording was a little creepy. Even so, Johnson says, "Little sneak. You've got to watch what you're saying around BB-8. It's all on the record."
Luke and Leia Mourn for Han Solo
Since the First Order is in hot pursuit of the Resistance after the destruction of Starkiller Base, it seems like there's not much time to have a funeral for Han Solo. Supposedly the novelization of the movie will have a sequence laying the smuggler-turned-Rebel to rest, but in the movie it doesn't seem like there's any time for such tributes. But there was one scene that ended up being cut that allowed both Luke (Mark Hamill) and Leia (Carrie Fisher) to have a moment of solace in memory of the fallen scoundrel.
In The Last Jedi, we see that Luke is unaware that Han has died. While Leia felt his death through the Force, we learn that Luke has cut himself off from the energy field that connects all living things in the galaxy. After Luke worriedly asks where Han is right after Chewbacca has torn the door to his hut down, we're shown that Rey has just explained everything that happened. But it's not much time to mourn.
Originally, Luke had a moment in his stone hut alone to sit quietly. Tears even form in his eyes as he remembers his old buddy. Don't worry, there's no foggy flashback to their greatest moments together like some kind of sitcom, but there's is a cut to Leia who is sitting in a similar pose to Luke, also feeling his pain, sharing a moment of grief together as twins.
So why did it get cut? Johnson explains, "We realized just for pacing in that section we had to stick with Rey and Luke, and we wanted just to go straight from him slamming the door of the hut into the day-in-the-life montage, of him going around the island. Taking that bit out suddenly propelled us forward into that segment in a way that just felt much better for the film."
As it stands, we get a pretty great moment where Luke remembers everything that brought him to this point when R2-D2 plays him a familiar hologram of Princess Leia, so it sounds like Johnson made the right choice.
A First Order Cover-Up
Finally, towards the end of the movie, there was an extra scene with Finn and Rose (Rose Tico) on The Supremacy, the Mega Star Destroyer belonging to Supreme Leader Snoke. The two Rebels are on board the ship (along with Benicio del Toro as DJ) to disable the active tracking device that is keeping the First Order on the tail of the Resistance, even through hyperspace. They're in disguise as officers, but that doesn't stop one of them from being recognized.
Remember, Finn is a defected Stormtrooper, and even though his face remained covered up most of the time, he got to know plenty of people under their helmets, and they got to know him. Therefore, it's a very surprising moment when one of the Stormtroopers recognizes Finn in an elevator in the Star Destroyer. It's a funny moment where the Stormtrooper just won't shut up about how cool it is that his old buddy FN-2187 ended up becoming an officer.
What's interesting about this scene though, is that it also reveals how the First Order has dealt with Finn's defection. Instead of making it clear to everyone else what happened with Finn and making it clear that he's a traitor, the First Order basically covered it up. Johnson explains, "The implication from the exchange is that this was obviously an embarrassment that this happened with Finn, and that First Order didn't let the info get out, as much as they could."
Fun fact: the Stormtrooper in question is supposedly played by Tom Hardy. At least that's what we heard over a year ago. We'll have to wait until we see this exchange before we can really tell. Then again, Daniel Craig played the Stormtrooper who freed Rey from being held by Kylo Ren, but the voice behind the character doesn't really sound like him. So maybe we won't know for sure, even after seeing the scene.
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That's all for the new details on Star Wars The Last Jedi deleted scenes. You can find out some more about an alternate encounter with Captain Phasma over at Entertainment Weekly. Their rundown of some of the deleted scenes also features some more details about that scene between Rey and Luke involving the island's caretakers that we highlighted awhile back, compete with insight from Johnson. So be sure to check that out.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi hit digital download on March 13, 2018, then Blu-ray & DVD on March 27, 2018.