Rogue One Trailer speculations ...revisited

Last November I wrote a preview of Star Wars Rogue One based on the trailer. And then life happened and I never got around to seeing the movie. Thankfully it came out on Netflix a few weeks ago and I was able to scrape together a few forty minute chunks to watch the movie, I don't have the attention span to watch anything longer than an episode of Game of Thrones in one sitting.

Now that I know what happens I look back on what I thought the movie was going to be. And if you haven't seen it yet this post is super spoilery. But guess what the movie came out in the theater nine months ago, it came out on DVD/Bluray three months ago, its been streaming on Netflix for almost a month, so if you haven't seen it at this point its your own fault.

When does this movie happen? Rogue one takes place somewhere between the time of Episode 3 (Revenge of the Sith) and Episode 4 (A New Hope). How do I know this? They are building the first Death Star, and probably working on the second one as well, which became fully operational in A New Hope. Don't think it was fully operational, ask you friends on Alderaan. Too soon? And Darth Vader is in it.

I was right, it takes place right before the original Star Wars begins. But the Death Star was fully operational. Alderaan was just the first test of the FULL power of the space station.

Is that Rey?No.

So who is that woman who looks like Rey? That character is Jyn Erso. And yes it's confusing to have back to back Star Wars movies with a dark haired, feisty and seemingly independent woman as the protagonist. But they are not the same person.

And Jyn, like Rey (who she is not related to) she speaks with a British accent. But she is not related to her, or Pricness Leia, or Han Solo, or Obi Wan, or any other character you have ever seen in Star Wars. Like Jyn herself, everyone the Star Wars universe she is related is killed during this movie.

Oh my god they cast Mon Mothma awesomely. (Your kids will never ask this but your nerd friends will) That is very true. Genevieve O'Reilly played the same character in Episode 3. Oddly enough both O'Reilly and Caroline Blakiston, who played the older Mon Mothma in the Star Wars saga, are blonde in real life.

And if you thought that was amazing, please take a look at Princess Leia and Governor Tarkin before Carrie Fisher and Peter Cushing's faces were superimposed on them.

So where is Rey?Rey was born somewhere in the 30 years between Return of the Jedi and  The Force Awakens. This movie takes place somewhere in the 20 years before A New Hope. So if that character was Rey, she would have been in her 80s during the Force Awakens.
What about Finn?See "So Where is Rey?" And every African American actor that you will see on screen isn't Finn's dad. Finn may have no relation to anyone we have ever met in the Star Wars universe.

Unless Rey is a time traveler, she nor Finn are in this movie. Wait is Saw Gerrera Finn's grandfather? No he's not.

Are Luke and Leia going to be in it? My guess would be no. Since Darth Vader is there, it takes place after Luke and Leia were born. So they exist. You would assume that there won't be any reason to go to Tatooine, so there won't be a young Luke cameo. But Jimmy Smits as Bale Organa is in the movie so there may be a young Princess Leia cameo.

Darth is in the movie but he looks off. I am not sure what it was. But he was having out in the same kind of water rehab tank that Luke goes into in Empire Strikes Back. Jimmy Smits was there, but its unclear if he dies when the Empire attacks the rebel fleet, or when he gets back to Alderaan. And Leia is in the movie since it take place right before A New Hope. Luke is buying power converters at Tosche Station off screen.


The movie was great, it was a great spy thriller set in the Star Wars universe. I'm glad there were not Jedi's coming out of every corner. When A New Hope happens all of the Jedi were either dead or in deep exile, and there were only two Sith (master and apprentice). Though knowing that all the characters have to die in the end, I never got very attached to any of them.