Everything We Learned From The Force Awakens' Deleted Scenes
Seven new snippets are included on the Digital HD version released April 1. Here's all the new information we found out.
LucasFilm/Getty ImagesRejoice, fans: *Star Wars: The Force Awakens* Blu-ray dropped yesterday, complete with a host of bonus features, from a making-of documentary to the cast's table read of the script. But the most intriguing extras are undoubtedly the seven deleted scenes. Like the bonus content that comes with most movies, they’re not really full scenes, just snippets of longer sequences that wound up on the cutting-room floor; still, it’s a must-watch playlist for anyone hungry for more information about the new trilogy. We watched through them all and picked out everything you need to know from each new piece of footage.
LucasFilm/Getty ImagesFinn and the Villager
Taken from the opening First Order assault on the Jakku village where Poe is captured and BB-8 escapes into the desert, FN-2187—aka Finn (John Boyega)—retreats in fear after seeing one of his comrades die. While hiding behind a rock, he sees a villager and her baby, shares a moment of terror with her amidst the slaughter around them, and then lets the woman run off into the night.
LucasFilmJakku Message
If this scene had remained in the film, General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) would have been the first of the original trilogy's main cast to appear in *The Force Awakens*. (And Greg Grunberg’s Snap Wexley would’ve appeared much earlier.) She receives a distress signal from a Resistance officer that the village on Jakku has been destroyed along with Poe’s X-wing, and that BB-8 is nowhere to be found. Ever the wise leader, Leia ominously advises, “never underestimate a droid.”
LucasFilmX-Wings Prepare for Lightspeed
Snap Wexley (Greg Grunberg) gets in a good line about lightspeed being "the *only* speed," but other than that, we can see why this moment with the X-Wing pilots was deleted in the first place: Had it stayed in the movie, it would have utterly spoiled [the surprise](http://slim-weight.info/2015/12/star-wars-force-awakens-movie-review/) of Poe and the Resistance flying in to save the day at Maz Kanata’s castle.
LucasFilmKylo Searches the Falcon
There’s a bit of a narrative gap between Kylo Ren first sensing Han Solo has landed on Starkiller Base and when father and son fatefully meet on that catwalk. This small scene, one of the most fully-rendered of the deleted bits, shows that there was supposed to be a lot more going on when Finn, Han, and Chewie go to rescue Rey. Kylo and a team of Snowtroopers check out the crash-landed Millennium Falcon, which Ben Solo presumably remembers from his childhood. There’s not a lot here, but it does help explain that [Annie Leibovitz photo](http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/05/star-wars-force-awakens-photos) of Kylo in the snow from *Vanity Fair* last year.
LucasFilmSnow Speeder Chase
The movie's third act shows Finn and Rey escaping Starkiller Base to face Kylo Ren in the woods, but this scene shows how they got there. It only has basic CGI, and must’ve been cut pretty early on in editing, but it’s still a nice team-up moment for Finn and Rey. They start out with Finn driving the speeder and Rey firing a blaster at oncoming Stormtroopers, but switch spots so that Finn can use his marksman skills to help them make a clean getaway.
LucasFilmFinn Will Be Fine
After returning to the Resistance Base in the Illenium System, Rey watches over Finn as he’s tended to by medical staff. The medic (Dr. Kalonia, whose patronizing “you must be so brave” to Chewbacca was a big laugh line in the movie) tells Rey that Finn will be fine. It's just a bit of footage between the Leia/Rey hug and Rey departing the base to find Luke, but it’s indicative of the slack that was in *The Force Awakens* before it was trimmed down to its ultimate 136-minute runtime.
LucasFilmTunnels Standoff
If there’s one scene we wish had been in the film, it’s this one—which actually isn't available on the Blu-ray, but only on last week's Digital HD release. How did Han, Finn, Chewie, and Maz get out of the basement where Finn received Luke’s light saber? Fight their way through a Stormtrooper unit, it turns out—but not before Han reels off some excellent quips. First he calls Supreme Leader Snoke “Smoke,” and then wonders aloud, “What makes him Supreme?” It also helps show how Han recognized Finn wasn’t who he said he was (his boots), and it’s a much funnier Close Call than the one with Han and the smuggler gangs earlier in the film.
