Credit: LucasfilmGareth Edwards finally shares some details about Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) years later that fans might not even realize.
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When Rogue One was released, fans were amazed. After the Sequel Trilogy’s first entry, Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars fans were ready to see what Disney’s Star Wars could bring, and Rogue One didn’t disappoint. Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) showed a new side to the Rebellion. The Empire wasn’t just evil. It was oppressive and so powerful. For the first time, Star Wars showed that not all rebels are the same because Saw’s Partisans are extremists, and while they will fight for the greater good, the way they do that isn’t what people would expect.
The movie was also the first time where both sides of the war were presented as murderers. The Rebellion might want to end the Empire, but that didn’t make them the good guys when they killed innocent lives in bombing runs. Jyn Erso’s story helps the audience see a grittier side of Star Wars that led to Tony Gilroy creating Andor, a series dedicated to a new character, Cassian Andor, who helped Jyn find her father.
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Gareth Edwards is now promoting his next movie, The Creator (2023), a movie about AI and humanity, and talked to Star Wars Direct about Rogue One and what was Jyn Erso’s connection with the force. This came up after Ahsoka just confirmed that anyone can use the force, but some beings are more force-sensitive, since Sabine Wren is trying to be a Jedi in the Disney+ series.
Jyn Erso wasn’t raised to be a Jedi or had any teaching from one, but she had a special connection with the Jedi Order in the form of Kyber crystals. Her mother, Lyra, gave her own kyber crystal to Jyn when she was little, and it’s been with Erso ever since then.
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When talking to The Direct, Edwards shares that while Jyn Erso isn’t a secret Jedi, a lot of thought went into how to portray the type of relationship she would have with the force and not necessarily the Jedi Order. Edwards explains how he views the mystical force that resides in all beings as a religion and compares the force sensitivity to how much faith a character has:
“I don’t know. I mean, I see the Force as, like, a religion, obviously. And it’s like, you might tell a child, ‘Have faith in God.’ It doesn’t mean that they’re the Messiah. So, it’s kind of, I see it like, you can believe in this idea that there’s something greater than us; there’s a destiny of some sort. But [you] don’t have to be the second coming of Christ to do something great with your life.”
Jyn Erso wasn’t trying to be the new Jedi in Star Wars, but her achievements are quite admirable. She convinced the Rebel Alliance to stand up against the Empire and got a band of rebels to help her take down the operation on Scarif, leading to the events of Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (1977). Princess Leia gets the Death Star plans because of Jyn Erso.
It’s cool how Star Wars is opening up the franchise to include more characters who might have connections to the force, even if they don’t necessarily have the force. Sabine Wren and Jyn Erso are much more interesting, not turning into a Jedi because they have other qualities that make them intriguing.
Do you think Disney needs to make more Jedi characters? Let Inside the Magic know what you think!