Rogue One Original Ending

Rogue One's writer and director revealed to EW that the original version of the script featured Jyn and Cassian surviving. They weren't sure Disney would let them kill all the main characters, but when they got permission to do that they changed the ending. The original version didn't featuring Baze, Chirrut, or Bodhi and had Jyn as a Sergeant in the Rebel Alliance (hence some of the toys saying "Sgt. Jyn Erso").

The Death Star emerges from hyperspace to lay waste to Scarif and protect the Empire’s secrets by destroying the special weapons facility along with the Rebel incursion. But this time there was no last-second broadcast of the plans from a satellite tower. Jyn and Cassian were to escape the surface of the beach world carrying the data tapes. “A rebel ship came down and got them off the surface,” Whitta says. “The transfer of the plans happened later. They jumped away and later [Leia’s] ship came in from Alderaan to help them. The ship-to-ship data transfer happened off Scarif.” Darth Vader was still in pursuit and began attacking Jyn’s shuttle as the Rebels tried desperately to transfer the information from the data tapes to Leia’s vessel. Finally, Vader was successful in breaching their shields and destroying the craft. The audience would have been left fearing the heroes were dead. But as Vader’s Star Destroyer ventures off to chase Leia’s Tantive IV, we would have remained focused on the shuttle fragments floating in the vastness of space. “They got away in an escape pod just in time,” Whitta said. “The pod looked like just another piece of debris.”