by: S. Scott Stanikmas – Senior Staff Writer

BEWARE THERE ARE SPOILERS FOR STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS BELOW

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens wasn’t without its fair share of deaths. Many Stormtroopers and Resistance fighters went on to the great beyond and even one of the big three bought the farm. But there was one character that was spared the Grim Reaper’s scythe to fly another day.

 

According to Oscar Isaac, while talking to GQ Magazine, his character Poe Dameron was supposed to bite the big one and die early on in the film. But that got changed around in the interim. GQ explains how the actor told them about his character death and resurrection:

Isaac says he had been summoned to Paris for what he suspected might be a role in The Force Awakens. Sure enough, earlier that day, he had met with Abrams, screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, and Abrams had pitched him the character of Poe Dameron, a badass fighter pilot battling against the remnants of the Empire.

“He’s amazing!” said Abrams.

“Sounds good!” thought Isaac, whose first experience in a movie theater had been seeing The Empire Strikes Back.

“He opens the whole movie!” said Abrams.

“Sounds great!” thought Isaac.

“And then,” Abrams went on. “He dies.”

“Oh,” thought Isaac.

But just when the actor thought he was signing up for a bit part, things turned around:

“I went back home [to New York], and I thought about it. Then I wrote him and said, ‘Okay. I’ll do it!’ I figured it would be a cameo: I’ll come in, do my thing, and maybe it’s actually better not to have to sign myself up for three movies.” However, after Isaac decided, Abrams had already retooled the script and said, “Never mind. I’ve figured it out. You’re in the whole movie now.” And Isaac says, “I was like, ‘Holy shit! Alright, cool.’”

I enjoyed Dameron’s return in the nick of time to save the day at the attack on Maz Kanata’s place, so I’m glad the script changed and kept him in it. Even if it did seem like a bit of a cheesy plot twist, it would have been a little weird to see the best pilot for the Resistance go down without getting to show his stuff.