It’s been five years since Gareth Edwards broughtRogue One: A Star Wars Storyto the big screen, which was generally seen as one of the bestStar Warsmovies to have been released since the original trilogy came to an end in the early 80s. With its CGI recreation of Peter Cushing andCarrie Fisheras Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia respectively, and the decision to kill off the main characters at the end of the film, there were always going to be some controversies around the prequel, but Edwards still stands by it all, and with good reason asRogue Onebecame a billion dollar hit and landed with both critics and audiences alike.
Rogue Onewas the first spin-off movie to come with the “A Star Wars Story” tag, and was originally planned to be followed by a number of other features untilSolo: A Star Wars Storyfailed to hit the mark and was both a critical and financial failure. Instead many of those ideas were abandoned outright or adapted years later like the Obi-Wan Kenobi movie which is now a Disney+ series instead. So when it comes toRogue One, it now stands alone and unlike many of theStar Warsmovies didn’t concern itself with setting up any future outings for the cast.
“Things are more valuable when they only exist for a brief moment, and they’re not something you can always go back to. I feel like the fact that they did all — those characters came together and then can’t come together again, really, in the same way, probably helped the movie in some way,” Edwards toldStarWars.com.
When it comes to the other big talking point about the movie, Edwards revealed that the appearance of a digitally recreated Peter Cushing in the role of Grand Moff Tarkin was something that almost didn’t happen, and he wasn’t entirely sure if it was going to work or not. Guy Henry “played” the character on the set, and for that Edwards had to give him full credit.
“We lucked out with Guy Henry. He was the actor who played Tarkin for us, with all the dots on his face and everything. When I went to speak with him and meet with him to try to talk him into it, it was a strange request for an actor. You’re basically saying, ‘Can you be in our movie, but can we replace you with another actor and have nobody know that you did this?’ You’d imagine him saying a ‘what’s in it for me’ kind of thing. But he said, ‘You know what, Gareth? If you’d said any other actor in the history of cinema, I would say no, but Peter Cushing was the reason [I’m an actor].’ That actor, Guy Henry, his first role on TV was playing Sherlock Holmes. So he watched all of Sherlock Holmes, Peter Cushing’s version of Sherlock Holmes, and sort of started emulating him in the beginning of his career. It sort of stuck, I think. He’s always held him in this high regard, as well. So we kind of lucked out with him, that he had all the same mannerisms in his performances.”
WhileRogue One: A Star Wars Storymay be a shining example as one of the bestStar Warsspin-off of the last decade, it is what is coming in the next few years that has fans excited withThe Book of Boba Fettarriving before the end of the year, andObi-Wan Kenobi, season 3 ofThe Mandalorianand more arriving in 2022.
