Rogue One to make unusual Star Wars history

We are about a month away before the release of the new Star Wars spinoff film, Rogue One, hits theaters, but it looks like this film will start out VERY different from what most fans are used to.

During an interview with Variety, producer Kathleen Kennedy confirmed the rumors that Rogue One will NOT begin with the iconic opening crawl block. She elaborated on the decision saying:

“We felt [the crawl] was so indicative of what those saga films are,” she says. “Initially, we probably will begin the film in a way that is traditional, with just the title.”

As for the overall tone of Rogue One, earlier reports indicate the film will contain a World War II vibe to it, which was indicative during the first few trailers of the film.

It’s an interesting move by Disney and Lucasfilm to ditch the crawl. I understand wanting to separate the spinoff films from the main entries, but we’ve had the opening crawl appear on multiple Star Wars video games and TV shows, which never really interfered with the main entries.

Kennedy also touched on a few other topics during this interview, including how the upcoming Han Solo film will have more of a “western” feel to it. Kennedy also commented they are also looking into the possibility of a female director heading up a Star Wars film at some point.

“We want to make sure that when we bring a female director in to do Star Wars they’re set up for success,” says Kennedy. “They’re gigantic films, and you can’t come into them with essentially no experience.”

We’ll find out if that “no opening crawl” decision pays off (let’s not kid ourselves – of course it will) when Rogue One: A Star Wars story hits theaters December 16, 2016.