‘Rogue One’ Script Never Had A ‘Star Wars’ Opening Crawl

Over the years, the Star Wars saga has established a number of conventions that have come to be expected from each of the films. However, the intention of the standalone Star Wars anthology films was to tell stories within the same universe but without the regular formulas of the primary films. Nevertheless, when Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and director Gareth Edwards suggested that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the first of the standalone films, would not feature the classic opening crawl that had opened all previous Star Wars films, fan reaction was mixed.

According to Pablo Hidalgo, a member of the Star Wars story group, Rogue One was never intended to have an opening crawl even from the script stage of the films development.

Hidalgo revealed the news in a tweet responding to a fans question about the decision to forgo the opening crawl.

“The script never had one; always had the prologue. It was always a back-pocket possibility if the movie needed it. It never did.”

Here’s the official synopsis for Rogue One:

From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.

Directed by Gareth Edwards, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Jiang Wen and Forest Whitaker.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be released in theaters on December 16, 2016.

Source: ComicBook.com