Ever since the news broke of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and its standalone nature, fans and critics have wondered just what the hell that means in a galaxy far, far away with far, far too many prequels. Had the film done something to offend the Jedi Order, thereby prompting its exile from the ongoing saga? Or was it related to the film’s shift in tone, which is reportedly in more of a “war movie” vein than a rollicking space adventure?
Well, regardless of what comprises its “outsider” status, Rogue One is shaping up to be a singular film, which could be why filmmakers are reportedly planning to omit the franchise’s signature opening crawl. According to Time magazine, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who’s producing Rogue One, has indicated that the studio is working out just which Star Wars elements should be included in its standalone film. And it sounds like the opening crawl, which can be found in every other Star Wars movie, might be one of the components that fails to make the cut:
“The crawl and some of those elements live so specifically within the ‘saga’ films that we are having a lot of discussion about what will define the [stand-alone] Star Wars Stories separate and apart from the saga films. So we’re right in the middle of talking about that.”
There’s no word on what type of opening will replace the crawl. But Kennedy notes that another departure in Rogue One’s production involves bringing Zero Dark Thirty cinematographer Greig Fraser on board to work with Edwards on “a lot of handheld, intimate, close-up work” to deliver “a really unique style.”