The Independent caught up with Star Wars: The Force Awakens editors Mary Jo Markey and Maryann Brandon. The gist of the story is that they think there are seven deleted scenes on the Blu-ray/DVD. Seven for Episode VII sounds fitting but really isn’t a lot. I think the majority of the deleted sequences are really extended scenes of what we have.

When pressed a little further, the Oscar nominee said: “There aren’t a lot. There’s one with Harrison Ford, there’s one with Rey, but there aren’t a lot. “I think there are maybe seven or eight,” added Markey. “I don’t know if that’s a lot. I remember looking at the reel. Actually, I think there are seven.”

So it certainly sounds like there are most likely seven on the set. The new book Star Wars: The Force Awakens Rey’s Story actually shows how most of the sequences that we saw as scenes were just a part of larger scenes and those moments were cut and didn’t really amount to full-on scenes. One scene we heard about during production for instance had Rey getting “tipsy.” It showed up in Rey’s Story and she basically just takes a drink and Han suggests she not drink it and it’s nothing too big. Another one was when Rey watches a mother and a son at the “bus stop” where the kid is basically enthusiastic about life on Jakku and Rey feels the loss of her family watching these two while she cleans salvage.

So the question is will these be big scenes like the rumored fight on Bespin between Luke and Darth Vader from Rey’s vantage point, or will they be these tiny moments missing from the larger narrative like when Unkar Plutt had a subplot at Maz’s castle? Maybe none of these! There are a lot of possibilities here.

With as many moments we know were filmed and didn’t show up in the film itself, it sounds like seven scenes is a very tiny amount compared to what could be shared. It could be that some of those elements are going to show up in future films and they don’t want to show the stuff that was good but didn’t fit into this film but might fit elsewhere down the road. It isn’t like the first release of this film was going to give us everything but I think seven deleted scenes ain’t too shabby either.

At the end of the day, the movie is fantastic and everything is just a bonus. I guess that’s why they call them bonus features. Man, it all makes sense now. (At least it does when the movie is great.)

Thanks to @HopeYaAintDead for the heads-up!