Diego Luna Clears Up a Longstanding ‘Rogue One’ Mystery As We Get Deep Into Jedi-Exclusive Force Powers

It’s a good time to be a Star Wars fan. Though the franchise’s big-screen adventures might be on indefinite hiatus, what we’re getting on Disney Plus more than makes up for it. Andor has blown past all competition and after just four episodes has established itself at the very pinnacle of Star Wars media. Anyway, after the disastrous The Rise of Skywalker, maybe Star Wars could use an extended break from multiplexes.

Today we’ve seen Diego Luna reflect on his first time playing Cassian Andor, Genevieve O’Reilly talking about her cut role as Mon Mothma in The Revenge of the Sith, and our own Matt Goddard listing Force powers only Jedi can wield.

Diego Luna confirms that there was only ever one ‘Rogue One’ ending

Rogue One ends in heroic sacrifice, with the Rebel cell led by Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor succeeding in their mission to get the Death Star plans but dying in the process. The movie is known for its turbulent production and extensive reshoots, so it’s long been theorized that there was once a cut featuring a happier ending in which some of the characters survive.

Luna has now underlined that this was never on the cards and that from the moment he signed onto the movie he knew he’d die at the end. Speaking with Vanity Fair, he said:

“I remember people saying we shot different endings, and just to be clear, the day I was offered this role I knew this was it. It was one film and I knew what the end was gonna be.”

The full quotes are worth reading, as Luna says one of the reasons he signed up for Rogue One was knowing he’d be playing a character with a definitive ending. Fortunately being blown to smithereens hasn’t stopped him returning for Andor, which will end right as we meet him in Rogue One.

Genevieve O’Reilly opens up on being cut from ‘Revenge of the Sith’

Revenge of the Sith might have the best deleted scenes in Star Wars. These include Anakin killing Shaak Ti, Obi-Wan and Yoda fighting clones at the Jedi Temple, Yoda communicating with Qui-Gon Jinn, and Yoda’s arrival on Dagobah. But the most consequential might be the extensive cut material showcasing the birth of the Rebellion and Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma.

O’Reilly has since played the character in Rebels and Rogue One, but will be playing a major role in Andor. We got our introduction to her story in this week’s episode and she’s given an interview with Entertainment Weekly in which she says she understood why she didn’t make the final cut back in 2005:

“Of course it was all about Darth Vader becoming Darth Vader. Cinema has to have a singular focus for it to drive, you know? Cinema doesn’t have a lot of time to tell the story. So I respected their decision, and when I watched it, it made total sense.”

Her scenes in Andor episode four bode very well for her ongoing story, so we’re hoping she’s a heavy presence in upcoming episodes.

Force powers and abilities the Sith can never wield

The Sith may be scumbags, but you can’t deny they don’t have the coolest powers. Force Lighting looks incredible, Vader’s Force chokes are some of the most memorable moments in the original trilogy, and their ability to mentally break their opponents makes them a fearsome adversary. Compared with that the Jedi’s Force Push suddenly seems a bit weedy.

But there’s a whole suite of cool Jedi powers across Star Wars media that indicate the Light Side really is the most powerful. Some of them will be familiar like the Mind Trick used by Obi-Wan in A New Hope that mentally nudges the target rather than controls them, or the Jedi-exclusive ability to become one with the Force and achieve true immortality as a Force Ghost.

But there’s a bunch that isn’t so well known, like Force Projection, Force Binding, and something called Morichro that even many die-hard Star Wars heads out there won’t know. Check out the article and get yourself educated on what a Jedi can tap into.