Finn Tries to Hitch a Ride Into Town

After Finn crash-lands on Jakku, we don’t see a whole lot of his long exhausting trek to the Nima Outpost. But I’m pretty sure they shot a scene where he attempts to hitch a ride into town. The above piece of concept art is featured in The Art of The Force Awakens book, and it was created shortly before filming began. The official novelization also features the scene. Finn flags down the ship, not caring if it is occupied by followers of the First Order. Here is an excerpt:

The speeder was large, battered, and packed with an assortment of scoundrels representing several different species — none of them noted for their compassion. Yelling down at him and making rude gestures, they rocketed on past without so much as slowing down, leaving in their wake only dry dust and derisive laughter. “Thank you!” To the vocal sarcasm he added a mock bow. “Oh, yes, kind fellow travelers, thank you so very much! Thanks a lot!” He continued muttering under his breath, utilizing words and phrases from a half dozen worlds that would have seen him busted in rank had he employed them in the presence of an officer. No need to concern himself with anything like that anymore, he knew. He was no longer a trooper in the service of the First Order. Should he ever again find himself among its adherents, the last thing he would have to worry about was censure for the use of bad language.

It’s also worth noting that the speeder pictured in the concept art is something that evolved from earlier versions of the script, when they were working on the idea of space pirates.

Contable Zuvio Keeps the Law

We’ve already talked a bit elsewhere on the site about Constable Zuvio’s deleted scene. Many fans have wondered where the character was to appear since he has been featured in various toy lines and books. His appearance in the film must have been cut very late in the process. His scene in the film would have taken place right after the thugs attack Rey in an attempt to abduct BB-8.

From what I’ve heard, local peacekeeper Constable Zuvio “steps in to break up the tussle.” After settling the issue with the Constable, Rey heads back to her dwelling, “keenly aware that the dastardly Unkar would like nothing better than to get his hands on her new droid.” From what I can glean, the moment with the thugs would have played out differently in the film, as originally Finn (FN-2187) had not yet escaped from the First Order at that point. BB-8 recognizing Finn would have happened the next day. So the moment you see in the film of Finn about to help Rey with her attackers was either a reshoot or a clever edit.

Who Is Luke Skywalker?

If you’ve read any number of interviews with filmmaker J.J. Abrams talking about why he wanted to make this movie, it was the question of “Where is Luke Skywalker?” that sucked him into the project. He also mentions in some interviews that he was interested in the idea that, three decades after the Battle of Endor, people might not even remember Luke. One of the ideas that first brought the filmmaker to the project was an image of a teenage girl (like many teenagers in today’s world, who did not grow up with the original trilogy) asking, “Who is Luke Skywalker?

Originally when Finn tells Rey that BB-8 has a map to Luke Skywalker, Rey responded asking that exact question. While that moment was one of the initial ideas that brought Abrams to the project, he probably realized through editing that it didn’t make any sense that Rey wouldn’t know who Luke was but a few scenes later would have heard about the Jedi. So the line was replaced with “I thought he was just a myth.”

Han Solo’s Dice

In the film, Han Solo and Chewbacca recapture the Millennium Falcon (“Chewie, we’re home”), and Solo smirks as he steps back inside the ship’s cockpit. In the first cut of the film, Han used to hang the golden set of dice back indside the cockpit. Of course, the dice are from the “Cornelian Spike” game of sabacc in which he won the Falcon from Lando Calrissian. A photo of the dice is featured in the Visual Dictionary book.

Maz Uses Force Powers to Stop Stormtroopers

In the original script, Maz Kanata had Force powers. After the First Order begins their attack on the castle, Maz used her Force powers to cause the ceiling to cave in on a group of stormtroopers that had them cornered. In the sequence, Han Solo was forced to stall the stormtroopers to allow Maz to concentrate. There was a funny back and forth between him and the trooper. Han runs out of things to say so he rats out Finn, revealing that he recognized Finn’s stormtrooper boots — this is how he knew he wasn’t Resistance.