It’s not a secret that Star Wars‘ time under the Disney umbrella has been controversial. The House of Mouse tasked Lucasfilm with creating a sequel trilogy that would continue the stories of iconic characters like Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Leia Organa. After getting off to a hot start with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, things went off the rails for Kathleen Kennedy and Co. following the backlash to Star Wars: The Last Jedi. They tried to course-correct with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but the final film in the trilogy ended up falling flat and forced the franchise to abandon the big screen for several years.
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2026 will see Lucasfilm release its first movie since 2019, but the project won’t focus on Jedi and Sith. No, it’s going to be a continuation of The Mandalorian called The Mandalorian & Grogu. That’s somewhat surprising because Star Wars seems to struggle whenever it goes away from what’s worked in the past. However, the powers that be must have hope because of the success of one of their standalone movies, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
The Gareth Edwards film will celebrate its tenth anniversary next year, and the director can’t seem to avoid questions about it while he promotes his latest project, Jurassic World Rebirth. He doesn’t have as high an opinion of Rogue One as most, though, being unsupportive of the idea that it’s the best movie in the franchise since 2015.
“I don’t agree with it, but I appreciate it,” he told Business Insider. “I’m very grateful that people say nice things.”
Edwards also mentioned that he’s been “very happy to move on and do my thing,” not wanting his career to be defined by his time in a galaxy far, far away. His mindset is focused more on the impact his work will have in the years to come.
“What you have to keep in your pocket as you go through making other films, is that it’s not about how people feel the day it gets released, it’s how people feel about it 10, 20 years from now,” Edwards explained. “When you make a movie, you’re living at least a year from now, you’re trying to imagine what it’s like, all these decisions you’re making, what they are going to be like a year from now when this movie is released, what’s the audience going to think? And as the movie comes out, you go, ‘I’m going to pretend I’m living 10 years from now, and it doesn’t matter what people say in the moment.’ It’s the kid who comes up to you 20 years from now and goes, ‘Oh my god, I loved that movie!’ I think that’s the reward.”
Whether Edwards likes it or not, Rogue One is already aging like fine wine, and it has Star Wars: Andor to thank for that. The series, which just wrapped up its two-season run on Disney+, follows Cassian Andor, who, of course, plays a major role in the 2016 film.
Andor Pushes Rogue One From Good to Great
What Andor does to help Rogue One is reveal how much work it takes to get the Rebellion off the ground. While figures like Mon Mothma seem like nothing but roadblocks on the big screen, they sacrifice so much to get where they are. There are also plenty of characters that don’t get to live to see the Death Star plans end up in Leia’s hands, who are instrumental in getting Cassian and Co. in the right place at the right time. Just like it took a village to get Rogue One made, it took a lot of effort in-universe to make the story as impactful as it is.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is streaming on Disney+.
Do you think Rogue One is the best Disney Star Wars movie? Would you like to see Gareth Edwards return to the franchise? Let us know in the comments below!
