20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2. Poe Died In Earlier Versions Of The Script
Poe Dameron is believed to be dead early in the film when the stolen TIE fighter he and Finn escape in is shot out of the sky by a First Order Star Destroyer.
Later, of course, it's revealed that Poe did indeed survive the crash alongside Finn, and if like many fans you felt that Poe's fairly minimal presence in the movie was at odds with his prominence in its marketing, that's because he originally just died in the TIE fighter crash.
Earlier drafts of the script had Poe perish, as actually made Oscar Isaac initially reluctant to take the part. However, J.J. Abrams decided to grant Poe a stay of execution after figuring out how to take him out of the movie's second act without killing him.
As much as Oscar Isaac was largely wasted in the sequel trilogy, it still would've pissed a lot of fans off to see him taken off the chess board quite so abruptly.