Rogue One: Which Iconic Star Wars Characters Might Show Up

Star Wars

The following could contain major spoilers for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story do not read on if you don't want to know.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is returning fans not only to the Star Wars universe, but also to the time period of the original trilogy. So what does that mean for possible appearances by members of that cast? Rogue One director Gareth Edwards may have spilled the beans about a couple of cameos from iconic Star Wars characters, not by what he said, but by what he didn't say.

Q: Will there be Jedi?Edwards: Technically yes.Q: Will there be lightsabers?Edwards: Darth Vader has one.Q: Luke Skywalker?Edwards: NoQ: Will we see Princess Leia?Edwards: I don't want to ruin it for people.Q: R2-D2?Edwards: I don't want to ruin it for people.

Appearing on the French language channel TMC, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards was asked a series of questions about things we might see in the film. The problem was, he gave specific answers to the first questions, so when he equivocates on the last two it sounds like an admission. Luke Skywalker won't be there, but he doesn't want to ruin the movie by telling us if Princess Leia or R2-D2 will be there.

It's barely possible that mid-interview Gareth Edwards realizes that he needs to stop giving specific answers and so he changes his response. However, the much more likely answer is that we will, in fact, see both of these characters at some point during Rogue One.

If this is true, the odds are that both characters (along with C-3PO possibly) will show up at the tail end of the movie. One of the persistent rumors going around is that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will take us right up to within minutes of the beginning of the original Star Wars. If true, this would almost certainly include the handoff of the Death Star plans to Princess Leia, who is on board a ship with both of the classic Star Wars droids.

Poor Gareth Edwards has fallen victim to one of the "classic blunders." Right up alongside "never go up against a Sicilian with death is one the line" and "never get involved in a land war is Asia" you will find "never answer a movie interview question with the word no if you're not willing to answer other questions with the word yes." Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn last official announcement regarding rumors about the upcoming sequel was that he was no longer to respond to them at all. He had debunked several, but he eventually realized that if he continued to do that, any rumors he did not debunk would be viewed as confirmed. The Russo Brothers have also admitted that this is how it works, previously saying that if we ever hear them answer a question with "we can't tell you" that basically means yes.

So can we say that a Princess Leia cameo alongside R2-D2 is confirmed? It would seem so. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.