The biggest Christmas gift for mostStar Warsfans this year will be the release ofRogue One: A Star Wars Story, the firstStar Warsspinoff that is set to hit theaters December 16. We reported over the weekend that thenew trailerwill debut Thursday night during Olympic coverage on NBC, but while we wait for this footage, we have new story details from directorGareth Edwards. The filmmaker reveals that there will be a Jedi holy land revealed in this movie, a new planet known as Jedha.
We’ve known for quite some time thatRogue Onewill be set between the events ofStar Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sithand the 1977 classic that started it all,Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.Entertainment Weeklycaught up with directorGareth Edwards, who reveals that, duringA New Hope, the Jedi “religion” was dying, which is explored even further inRogue One. Here’s what the filmmaker had to say below.
“The Forceis basically in Star Wars like a religion, and they’re losing their faith in the period that we start the movie. We were trying to find a physical location we could go to that would speak to the themes of losing your faith and the choice between letting the Empire win, or evil win, and good prevailing. It got embodied in this place we called Jedha.”
Jedha’s look was influenced by Middle Eastern locations, with “Ottoman-inspired architecture” similar to places like Mecca, Jerusalem, Canterbury or Bodh Gaya. Before thisRogue Onestory begins, Jedha is a spiritual place very important to the Jedi order, until the Empire takes control of this holy place. Here’s whatGareth Edwardshad to say about how important Jedha is to theJedi Order.
“It’s a place where people who believe in the Force would go on a pilgrimage. It was essentially taken over by theEmpire. It’s an occupied territory… for reasons we probably can’t reveal. There’s something very important in Jedha that serves both the Jedi and the Empire. It felt very much like something we could relate to in the real world.”
WhileGareth Edwardswouldn’t specify what lies in Jedha that both the Jedi and the Empire would want, EW speculates that there could be a source of kyber crystals on the planet, the minerals that power the Jedi’s lightsabers and were also believed to be used in the creation of the Death Star. The director also revealed that this planet is the home world of key characters such as Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen), Baze Malbuz (Jiang Wen) and Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), a character who used to be an Imperial pilot but now fights for the Resistance.Gareth Edwardsreveals that this group of rebels comes to Jedha looking for another mysterious person who could help them.
“Within Jedha, even though there’s the oppressive foot of the Empire hanging over them, there’s a resistance that won’t give up and our characters have to go and meet people there to try and secure a person from this group. In a wider level, there must be loads of people who just believe in the Jedi and believe in the Force and have been affected by it. If it’s a really ancient religion, as Obi-Wan Kenobi said, it’s got to exist in thousands or millions of people in the galaxy.”
EW also teases that a new report arriving tomorrow will reveal exactly why Bodhi Rook still wears the Imperial insignia on his shoulder. Hopefully we’ll learn much more about these mysterious characters before the trailer debuts Thursday night. Be sure to stay tuned for more updates onRogue One: A Star Wars Story, arriving in theaters December 16.
