BY now, the origin of Rogue One is something of a folk legend among die-hard Star Wars fans. Visual effects guru John Knoll—both a veteran Lucas employee and a life-long fan of the Skywalker family drama—pitched Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy his idea of a movie centering on a ragtag group of rebels stealing the plans for the Death Star. And Kennedy went for it. Like directors J.J. Abrams and Gareth Edwards, Knoll is part of a new age of Lucasfilm—now completely independent of its founder, George Lucas, and owned by Disney—where the franchise is being shaped by Star Wars fans, for Star Wars fans.
Knoll’s initial conceit for this intergalactic heist—which takes place after Revenge of the Sith and just before A New Hope—was impressively unshackled from homages to the Star Wars he grew up with. Darth Vader had no lines; the Force was barely mentioned. In the version of Rogue One that opens this Friday, though, Vader dominates two scenes, and the Force—though largely dormant in the galaxy—sneaks its way in, too. If the considerable difference between footage found in the trailers and what appears in the final cut of the film is any indication, it’s not just Knoll’s vision that got altered along the way. Director Gareth Edwards, who once described Rogue One in terms of a war movie, has clearly made some compromises as well, possibly owing to the reportedly extensive reshoots he’s been constantly forced to address on the film’s promotional circuit. The Lucasfilm Cinematic Universe is taking shape in the shadow of fellow Disney property Marvel, which has had massive financial success in creating interlocking films that are less stand-alone than parts of a larger whole; Lucasfilm, too, seems to be working to make films, TV shows, comic books, and toys that exist together in one coherent universe. (Disney declined to comment on its overall plan for shaping the Star Wars franchise.)
So what defines a Star Wars film in this seemingly freer era of spin-offs and comic twists? The answer, as indicated by Rogue One, may be the same as it was in the age of George Lucas: an over-dependence on the past.
Rogue One is at its best when divorced almost entirely from the main Skywalker saga. Alongside a striking visual style, Edwards and credited screenwriters Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy at times deliver a downright inspirational story of the ragtag team of rebels who defied the Empire in order to steal plans for the original Death Star. That their mission requires a good deal of sacrifice should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with A New Hope, but the unflinching bravery with which Rogue One addresses the price of war makes it truly stand out in an already impressive new franchise. Even the delightfully dour robot K-2SO, voiced by _Alan Tudyk, feels like a much more nuanced take on a classic Star Wars staple: the droid sidekick.
The movie opens on a scene that feels unlike anything we’ve ever known in the Star Wars universe. Cloaks flap loudly in gusty, rainy wind as two actors at the top of their game—Ben Mendelsohn and Mads Mikkelsen—infuse a discussion of the Empire and Rebellion with weighty personal drama. It feels wholly fresh and wonderful. But by the time Vader shows up, the history of the Star Wars franchise already makes the rebels’ story feel crowded.
In Knoll’s original pitch, Darth Vader was only a shadow glimpsed in the periphery. The expansion of the role, as Knoll argued in an interview at Skywalker Ranch during the film’s press junket, is relatively minor, but it allowed Disney and Lucasfilm to make Vader’s familiar, helmeted face the largest one on the Rogue One poster, a significant part of the trailers, and landed good old Anakin the cover of Entertainment Weekly.
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