In 2013, Gareth Edwards pretended he was going to get lunch, and instead went to a meeting with Kiri Hart at Lucasfilm. He was one of a handful of promising young directors who'd been handpicked to direct a new Star Wars film, off the strength of his low-budget debut Monsters. Edwards was offered Destroyer of Worlds, originally pitched by VFX legend and Edwards's personal hero, John Knoll. 

Gary Whitta went into his meeting at Lucasfilm surprised to be considered for a film project at all, but his ideas hit the right note, naming basically every major influence Knoll had listed in his pitch. Whitta would write the first draft and come up with the film's title, Rogue One, before being replaced by Chris Weitz, Oscar nominated writer and noted Boba Fett hater.

In the middle of all of this was Colin Goudie, an editor hired twelve months before Rogue One even started shooting, tasked with making the film out of other films.

Welcome to the messy, contradictory world of Rogue One's script.

You can follow the show on twitter or tumblr @goingroguepod, or for slightly less hinged content, follow @tansyclipboard on twitter or @tansyg.bsky.social on Bluesky.

If you want to get in touch, you can email [email protected]

CLIP SOURCES:

 - The Sci Fi Talks Podcast

 - The Rule of Two

 - The Filumentarians

 - The Director's Cut

 - IGN's  WFH Rogue One Livestream

MUSIC:

"Bleeping Demo", "Hiding Your Reality", "Concentration", "Dreamcatcher", "Industrial Cinematic", "Stormfront", "Rynos Theme", "Ever Mindful", "Envision", "Anguish", "Twisting", "Lost Frontier", "Prelude & Action", "Stay the Course" & "Magic Scout"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

"Suspended Animation", "Void Glider" & "Quiescent in Time" by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com