'The Force Awakens' Blu-ray Will Feature 7 or 8 Deleted Scenes

There’s no official word as of yet about when the home video version of Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be released. There are rumors that the digital version will hit as soon as March 15, while Amazon leaked April 5 as the potential release date of the Blu-ray, but that has since been removed from the site. Blu-ray.com then reported that the physical release will be available in a three-disc set including two Blu-rays and one DVD, with some outlets reporting that a Swedish retailer has inadvertently leaked the special features. (We can’t speak Swedish, and even if we Google translate the page, we can’t find any features to speak of.)

Disney and Lucasfilm still have yet to confirm anything. There’s no doubt they’ll want to make a big announcement when they decide the time is right. But The Independent caught up with Mary Jo Markey and Maryann Brandon, the editors of the movie, who let some details slip about what to expect on home video.

“We have been talking about [the deleted scenes],” Brandon told The Independent. “But Disney has mentioned to us that — since they’re going to be on the DVD treats for viewers — that we should stop talking about them.”

Brandon, who is nominated for an Oscar this year along with Markey for the movie, let her guard down by explaining, “There aren’t a lot. There’s one with Harrison Ford, there’s one with Rey, but there aren’t a lot.” Markey added, “I think there are maybe seven or eight.”

The pair explained to The Independent that director J.J. Abrams basically tasked them to be as thrifty as possible, with not much footage of worth being left on the cutting room floor.

“We went back to see if we should add any of the things we left off, and there really wasn’t anything that felt like it needed to be in the film,” Brandon explained. “That’s always the goal, to get it down to its essence. There were fun things, but it didn’t actually have to be in the movie for it to work.”

So what deleted scenes can fans expect? Following the release of the movie, Slashfilm broke down some of the known deleted scenes culled from various sources such as reports from other websites and scenes from the novelization and other tie-in books. It’s a fairly thorough look at what was left out, but Brandon mentions only the Harrison Ford scene and a scene involving Rey. Slashfilm mentions one Han Solo deleted scene, which is basically blatant and kind of boring fan service that belongs on the cutting room floor. Here’s what they say about that:

“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 [sic] 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.”

There are a ton of potential deleted scenes involving Rey, including a conflict with a character cut out of the final film called Constable Zuvio, another confrontation with junk buyer Unkar Plutt, an extended version of her trippy vision in Maz’s castle, and more. But potentially the best deleted scene is an alternate and longer discussion between Rey and Leia, which was relegated to a simple “May the Force be with you” in the final film. Per Slashfilm, the conversation in author Alan Dean Foster’s novelization goes something like this:

“‘I’m proud of what you’re about to do,’ she told the girl. Rey replied in all seriousness. ‘But you’re also afraid. In sending me away, you’re — reminded.’ Leia straightened. ‘You won’t share the fate of our son.’ ‘I know what we’re doing is right. This is how it has to be. This is how it should be.’ Leia smiled gently, reassuringly. ‘I know it, too. May the Force be with you.’”

You know what? Who cares, just give us the full five-hour cut and call it a day. Also, please put out the original theatrical cuts on Blu-ray while you’re at it. The home video release for The Force Awakens still hasn’t been announced, but it can’t come soon enough.