THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE SPOILERS

Star Wars: Rogue One featured the iconic villain Darth Vader, but he was only seen briefly. Now, writer Gary Whitta, who worked on an early draft, has revealed that he originally had an idea for Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) to survive the film's final battle, only to be killed by Vader.

In this version, Vader murders Krennic for allowing the Rebels to make off with the Death Star plans after the final showdown on the tropical planet Scarif.

"He survived the blast and they pulled him up and brought him to the Star Destroyer to report to Vader," Whitta explained to Entertainment Weekly. "He's all beat up, his cape's all torn up and stuff, and he thinks he has survived. Vader kills him for his failure."

Krennic "somehow survived" the the blast on Scarif, which sounds pretty unlikely given how devastating it was. "It's a bit of a reach, which is why it isn't in the finished film," he said.

In this version of Rogue One, main character Jyn Erson and Cassian Andor would have grabbed the important intelligence and escape with their lives. In the theatrical version, all the main rebels died, along with Krennic.

You can watch a special feature from the home video release above talking about the use of Vader in the film

Rogue One launches through digital stores on March 24, with a release for Blu-ray/DVD slated for April 4. Check out GameSpot's previous coverage here to learn more about everything it comes with.

The next Star Wars film is Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which opens in December.

This story has been updated and corrected.