First draft of The Last Jedi had Poe & Finn going to Canto Bight

February 3rd 2018, 7:44pm

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI may be two months old but that isn’t stopping everyone from constantly asking director/writer Rian Johnson about all the little behind the scenes details. Johnson has been more than willing to oblige, having sat on a treasure trove of details he had to keep secret until now. In his most recent reveal, he disclosed an interesting aspect of the movie’s first draft in which Finn (John Boyega) and ace pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) make the big trip to party planet Canto Bight.

Johnson was speaking with Collider during their Q&A and IMAX screening of the movie when he revealed that Poe and Finn were meant to go on the mission together to find the “Master Codebreaker.” Johnson soon decided there wasn’t much there in terms of conflict, which was when he split them up, ultimately pairing Finn with Rose (Kelly Marie Tran).

In the very first draft I wrote of it Poe went with Finn on the mission to Canto Bight, and the two of them were going to be together on the mission. And it didn’t work at all because those two get along so well and so it was just really boring.

Dameron was one of the hardest characters to write for, according to Johnson, but he said splitting them up gave him a way to find the pilot’s path. Giving him his own story allowed him to discover what it means to be a leader and not just a guy who, according to Leia (Carrie Fisher), just gets in an X-Wing and blows something up.

So when I split them apart, I thought “Oh, okay, so Poe can have his own deal … What is Poe’s deal?” And then I came up with the thing of, “Okay, he’s a hero, but he has to become a leader. Leia needs him to mature beyond brash heroics into someone who can take on the mantle of leading this Resistance.”

Though I am very down for a Poe/Finn buddy/sci-fi/comedy, Johnson made the right call in splitting them up. This way the two characters get their own story – each with depth – instead of one uninteresting, if cool, angle. This also made room for Rose, who brings a whole different vibe to the movie and gives it some positivity. However, the kiss Rose gives Finn at the end would've probably been more passionate had it been Poe giving Finn a big smoocharoo.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI is in theaters now.