Star Wars: The Last Jedi originally had a different opening, one that varied slightly from the introduction that would go on to appear in theaters. The change concerned the pacing of the Resistance evacuation and the best way to bring the audience up to speed with the story, and while the difference may seem small, there's some fascinating history involved. Fortunately, to better understand the alternate opening, Disney+ has the rough cut of it as it was originally conceived, as well as insightful commentary from director Rian Johnson about why it was dropped.

Johnson approached The Last Jedi from a different perspective than his predecessor, J.J. Abrams, but the introduction is well in keeping with Star Wars tradition: throwing the audience into the middle of the action, similar to the way George Lucas did in the opening of  Star Wars: A New Hope. But that choice necessitated a last-minute alteration to the film's final edit.

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Poe

The change revolves around a visual trick to establish the location following the movie's opening crawl. In the original opening, the camera descends past a series of Resistance starships to what appears to be the curve of a planet. But as it turns out, that curve is actually Finn in his medical bed, and he emerges to start the scene before the movie cuts away to Poe Dameron elsewhere on the ship.

The shot remains in the completed film in a slightly different form, appearing at about the 13-minute mark once the opening action sequence has concluded. But what's easy to miss is that the moment hinges on a visual trick evocative of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as Johnson self-effacingly mentions in the commentary of the original opening, he was delighted with its cleverness. Unfortunately, it also slowed the pacing down, and given the necessity of the opening crawl, it delayed the audience’s immersion in the film.

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Rose and Finn in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Editing and pacing have always played an important role in Star Wars, and from that perspective, this change makes a great deal of sense. The visual trick cost too much for a comparatively minor payoff, and shuttling back and forth between Finn’s subsequent subplot and Poe Dameron’s assault on Hux’s flagship would have robbed both scenes of momentum. As it stands, its removal is an interesting observation about the filmmaking process and a good reminder of how directors sometimes need to surrender a good-but-small idea in order to better their movie as a whole.

At the same time, though, the earlier cut serves as a reminder that Finn was intended to play a larger role in the saga and was effectively sidelined from the beginning of the film. It clearly wasn’t Johnson’s intention to slight Finn -- he cites John Boyega’s strong performance in the film, and his desire to open it with his character reflects that respect. But as the director, he’s obligated to keep the film itself in mind. However, the change to the opening is also a reminder that even smart moves can have unintended consequences, and as the debate around Finn's role continues, this small piece of behind-the-scenes insight may have a great deal to say about it.

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