There are popular movie franchises, and then there’s Star Wars. Because generations grew up with the galaxy far far away, there’s a large and very vocal fanbase. And Star Wars fans are known for making their opinions known, sometimes to a fault. Rogue One director was recently asked about all the franchise’s "conjecture”, explaining why he wouldn’t “do anything differently.” Let’s break it all down.
After Disney acquired Lucasfilm, the sequel trilogy was born. But the property also put out a few standalone movies, the first of which was Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The movie was quite the success (it was given a spinoff with the Andor series), but there were rumors about the movie filming reshoots without Edwards. While appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the filmmaker was asked about the ongoing conjecture and discourse about the blockbuster, sharing his thoughts by saying:
I think in terms of Rogue One, look, making films is very hard, right? And I think I got to make a film in probably the best world and story I could ever hope to be offered. The idea of nitpicking or complaining about some aspect feels really ungrateful. And so I’m sort of — even if I went back in time, I wouldn’t do anything differently. People aren’t shouting at me across the street saying I ruined their childhood, so…
Points were made. While chatter surrounding the Star Wars franchise can be loud, Gareth Edwards was ultimately happy with the story he brought to life with Rogue One. The movie was a critical and box office success, and broke new ground for George Lucas’ franchise. And despite whatever happened with reshoots, Rogue One doesn’t get the hate that certain other movies in the galaxy do.
Edwards’ comments offer a commentary on the film industry as a whole, but especially related to beloved IPs. When reboots or sequels are made that don’t please fans, there’s often chatter online about filmmakers “running their childhood”. Luckily for the Creator filmmaker, Rogue One usually doesn’t get that treatment. In fact, longtime fans of Star Wars loved being able to see Darth Vader at full power in live-action.
It should be fascinating to see how that same fandom responds to the new trilogy of Star Wars movies that are currently in development. Rather than telling one cohesive story, they’ll function more closely to standalone films like Rogue One. What’s more, they’re each set at very different points in the franchise’s official timeline.
Gareth Edwards’ The Creator is in theaters now, and the Star Wars franchise is currently streaming in its entirety with a Disney+ subscription. While we wait for the new trilogy, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
