R2-D2 Was Almost a Main Character in THE LEGO MOVIE
I'm sure R2-D2 is going to once again play a pivotal role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but he almost was one of the main characters in The LEGO Movie. According to writer and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the droid was a key player in early drafts of the script.
In an interview with Yahoo, Miller said, “He was a Batman-level character.” As you know, Batman stole the show with his superhero awesomeness. Lord went on to say, “We figured we could get R2-D2 because his voice wasn’t a human being.”
For one reason or another, they weren't able to secure the rights to the character for the film. Miller explained that they wrote the movie without worrying about the rights of any of the characters. He said,
“A kid doesn’t have lawyers that won’t allow the toys to play together. Part of the appeal for us was that ‘Roger Rabbit’ thing that you can get these characters together that you couldn’t get in any other type of movie. Watching my own son play, he does put Batman on the Millennium Falcon and there’s no-one saying they take place in completely different times and galaxies.”
Batman jumping on board the Millennium Falcon was actually a scene that they were able to throw into the movie, which was so cool. It would have been cool to see R2-D2 join in on this adventure. It's a shame that it didn't happen.