‘Rogue One’ – The Story Behind The Title

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It’s safe to say that the upcoming Rogue One – A Star Wars Story is one of the year’s most anticipated films. The first in a series of stand-alone anthology pictures developed by Disney and Lucasfilm, Rogue One has the unique distinction of being the first film released under the Star Wars banner not to emphasize its place in canon. So what exactly does Rogue One mean? Director Gareth Edwards has an answer.

Sitting down with Empire the Monsters and Godzilla helmer offered up his thought process behind the title selection for the picture.

“I’d been thinking about it,” he reflects. “What does it mean? ‘Rogue One’ is a military call sign to some extent, but this is the first film that’s gone off-piste and is not part of the saga – or the Anakin story – so it’s the ‘rogue’ one, you know?”

Edwards also revealed that he was puzzled behind the title himself for some time. Fortunately a ‘eureka’ moment graced his presence during this year’s Star Wars Celebration, resulting in his above explanation. Edwards continued further with other thoughts, specifically relating to his leading lady, Felicity Jones’, character, Jyn Erso. A touch of Han Solo seems to be the explanation.

“It’s kind of describing her as well in a similar way. “It has [all] these split, multiple meanings that made it feel like the right choice.”

When the original Star Wars opened in May 1977, it was simply titled as such. Episode IV – A New Hope wasn’t added until a re-release in 1981 following The Empire Strikes Back which always had the Star Wars Episode V identifier. Since then the legendary franchise has stuck to that very formula with its titles, marketing not withstanding. Rogue One has broken the trend. Now only the most important question remains, will there be an opening crawl?

Rogue One – A Star Wars Story opens on December 16, 2016 and stars Felicity Jones. The film is directed by Gareth Edwards.

Sources: StarWarsNews.Net

Josh Setchel

Josh Setchel

I love movies. All types of movies of which I have many opinions. You may or may not agree with them, but they are mine.