Director Gareth Edwards and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy have hinted at the fact ROGUE ONE will NOT feature an opening crawl, and that's all been confirmed in the past couple of weeks. This seemingly small act is a huge move by Lucasfilm in order to tell audiences that these spinoff movies are different take on a galaxy far, far away. So if there isn't any opening crawl, how will the movie start? With a prologue.
Edwards is making all of the promotional rounds and was recently in France talking up ROGUE ONE. Thanks to the good folks over at the Star Wars News Net (and their friends with MakingStarWarsFrance and Galaxie Star Wars), we have a translation of some of the interesting bits from that interview. Namely, how the movie will open. Check it out!
Gareth Edwards on the opening of ROGUE ONE:
There is no opening crawl. But there is a prologue at the beginning of the film that takes place 15 years before the action of the film and that is how the action is exposed. Our film comes from the text of episode IV if we give the text, it would be endless. We really had to differentiate Rogue One from the rest of the saga.
The latest trailer (seen below) shows us a glimpse of little Jyn Erso and her mum. I think it's safe to say that this will happen in the prologue, where Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) and his Deathtroopers show up to cause some trouble. It's also worth noting that when asked about whether or not we would see Leia or R2, Edwards responded with, "I cannot answer." Could a small cameo be in-store for the two? My money says, "yes," even if they're just in the background somewhere. We'll find out in 2 weeks' time!
ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY opens in theaters on December 16th.