The Anakin Skywalker Reference That Was Cut From 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

Its not a new phenomenon, a lot of movie trailers feature shots from movies that don't end up on the big screen. This usually takes the form of scenes or moments that hit the cutting room floor in the time between the early marketing and release date. And with big budget visual effects films, its not uncommon to see many different iterations of a computer rendering that evolves into a much better looking effect by the time it hits multiplexes.

And we've already talked a bunch about the deleted scenes that were glimpsed in the marketing for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but didn't make it to the theatrical release. But now that the movie is on Blu-ray and VOD fans are noticing some of the smaller details that didn't make the theatrical cut of the film, the most recent of which is a reference to George Lucas' Star Wars prequels and specifically Anakin Skywalker. Hit the jump to see the deleted Anakin Skywalker Force Awakens reference.

Reddit user Aero-Space noticed that a shot from one of the trailers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens had been altered in the blu-ray release of the movie. The shot in question is from when Han Solo, Finn and Rey are entering Maz's castle and we pan up to a bunch of flags that includes Boba Fett's Mandalorian logo...

...and another flag that featured a symbol that first appeared on young Anakin Skywalker's podracer from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

But the blu-ray version of this scene does not include Anakin Skywalker's symbol and other symbols from the Star Wars prequels. Here is a comparison shot:

The users on Reddit have since confirmed (via piracy) that this isn't a change just made for the home video release, but a change that was in the theatrical version of the film.

Blu-ray Version

Its interesting that this change was made, although we may never know exactly why. Its likely that the flags shown in the trailer were just an early version that was not finalized. And a Rolling Stones Magazine feature on director JJ Abrams from the release of the film may give us the answer:

Abrams, fresh from his speech about the importance of details, sits at the center of the editing room...They begin by reviewing a shot shown in the trailer, where dozens of flags appear on a castle that belongs to Maz Kanata, a mysterious little goggle-wearing creature, played by Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave) via motion-capture and CGI. The flags are designed to drive superfans nuts with references to the earlier movies, but Abrams tells Guyett that too many of them allude to the first of Lucas' prequels: "I don't want to be too about podracers," he says. "I'd rather come up with our stuff."

So there you have it.