One aspect that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story stays true to, as far as this universe is concerned, is the choice to hop around all over the galaxy. Star Wars is a franchise built on a variety of characters, creatures, star ships, and planets that are all defined in their own unique ways for better (Darth Vader and X-Wings) or worse (Jar Jar Binks and Geonosis). Given how Rogue One works outside the familiar Skywalker saga, it is only fitting that audiences get to see several new planets, which meant the filmmakers had to travel to a variety of locations.
In an effort to bring to life new planets such as Jedha, Eadu, and Scarif, the production had to travel all over the world. In an effort to provide a bit more information and context to seeing these locations on the big screen, the Star Wars YouTube page has released a new featurette detailing the various countries and areas visited by the crew for production. It's not too long, but it lays out the exotic locals seen in the film.
As one can see in the video found above, filming took place in areas such as Jordan, the Maldives,and Iceland. This comes in addition to England's Pinewood Studios, the standard location for all Star Wars films, among many other huge features, such as the James Bond franchise. There is only so much detail to be found, but one gets a general sense that this film, much like the others, did plenty to capture each locations' unique properties to help lend a level of authenticity to the various planets to which the characters travel.
Something else of note is the footage seen in this featurette showing off the Maldives. As has been reported on, it further goes to show that Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor were clearly involved in a different version of the third act, until the reshoots happened. Seeing these two, among others, on the beach with the Death Star plans will continue to lead into speculation as to just what was so different about the original ending of this film.
One could also wonder what kind of stress must have been involved in filming a large group of actors under the sun, while running in water, only to have that footage scrapped. Of course, that seems to be a story meant to be told on another day. More interesting would be learning additional information about these locations and why they were chosen specifically. Hopefully the eventual home video release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will have more extensive coverage on the locations used to shoot the film.
Source: Star Wars
