There are an almost infinite number of clever creative touches that have contributed to making Star Wars the behemoth that it now is, but at least one iconic element of the franchise’s first seven films may be conspicuously absent from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
According to ET Online, the opening crawl — where a quick synopsis of the upcoming film scrolls against a background of static space — will likely be left out of a live-action Star Wars film for the first time ever. The outlet spoke with Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy at the recent Star Wars Celebration in London, and the exec had this to say about the upcoming film: “You know, we’re in the midst of talking about it, but I don’t think these films will have an opening crawl. I think that’s what we kind of telegraphed at the beginning of the event today.”
The “telegraphing” that Kennedy is referring to came courtesy of a new promo for Rogue One (embedded above), which begins with the opening crawl for Episode IV: A New Hope, but quickly morphed into something else entirely. As the text recedes into space, one section of it breaks away and begins to flicker and generally go haywire. Eventually, it disappears and reveals the words Rogue One.
Disney and Lucasfilm have been insisting all along that this is a standalone film and not a “saga film.” As such, they claimed, it would look to strike a different tone than its predecessors and would be doing things its own way. From what we’ve seen thus far, it seems like that truly is the case.
Though the opening crawl may seem like just one tiny aspect of the franchise’s films, it is quintessential Star Wars and is something fans react to at the start of each new movie.
While nothing has been officially confirmed yet, it certainly sounds like this particular “Star Wars Story” will distinguish itself from the saga films right out of the gate.
Rogue One stars Felicity Jones (Jyn Erso), Ben Mendelsohn (Orson Krennic), and Riz Ahmed (Bodhi Rook), among others. It is due out in theaters December 16.
