When compiling a movie, many scenes don’t make the final cut. This is especially true with the film, Rogue One, which apparently should have had a very different ending. Gareth Edwards, who was the director for the film, confirmed this.
He stated that many shots from the third act were cut out of the final movie because it was dragging out the story line. As a result, many characters in the film that died could have actually survived.
The writer of Rogue One, Gary Whitta, also mentioned in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that Felicity Jones’ character, Jyn Erso, was originally supposed to be a sergeant in the Rebel Alliance.
He continued and went along to state that three imperative characters in the film, Chirrut Imwe, Baze Malbus, and Bodhi Rook, we’re not added in the original script of the movie.
The most important part of the interview was the Whitta informed Entertainment Weekly that Jyn originally should have survived in the movie.
They weren’t aware at first if Disney would allow this, as it was kind of a harsh and pretty dark ending. However, Disney ended up on board with it and allowed them to make the movie this way.