Before: Predictions and what I want out of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story before seeing it

Ever since The Force Awakens blew my expectations out of the water last December (I saw it in theaters almost a dozen times) I’ve been waiting at the edge of my seat for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. I’m excited to see where Disney takes the series and what these spin-off stories will be like. Rogue One is an exciting film to me not only because of its close connection to the original film, but also its status as a barometer for their future projects, like the Han Solo film.

What I know of Rogue One so far is that Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) will lead a team of rebels in an act of espionage in the hopes of stealing the Death Star plans. We know ahead of time that the Rebellion will be successful here because Leia has the Death Star plans at the beginning of A New Hope and hides them in R2-D2.

I do still have a lot of questions for this film.

• Will our new rebels survive the film or will they sacrifice big to get the plans to Leia?
• Is Jyn related to any other Star Wars characters? Obviously the years don’t line up for her to be Rey’s mother, but could she be related to anyone else in the series?
• What will Darth Vader’s role be in Rogue One?
• Will we get any hint of Supreme Leader Snoke this far back in the lore?
• Will a young Princess Leia and/or R2D2 and C3PO make a cameo?

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Felicity Jones) Ph: Film Frame ©Lucasfilm LFL

My predictions are simple.

I want the climax of the film to be that Rogue One steals the Death Star plans and, when they try to escape, Darth Vader shows up. Where all else failed to stop their plan, Vader won’t. He’ll wordlessly with his creepy breathing sounds butcher our new team and none but Felicity Jones will get away with the plans.

I don’t think we’ll see the Death Star fired in Rogue One. It’s more meaningful if Alderaan was the first world destroyed by it, not only for the lore of the galaxy but also for Leia’s backstory. She and her culture are the victims of the only attack of that scale. Well, until the attack by Starkiller base destroyed a whole system in The Force Awakens.

I think Jyn’s father, the designer of the Death Star, will be revealed to have put in the fatal flaw in its design on purpose, allowing the torpedos shot by Luke Skywalker to make it inside to destroy the station. It always seemed like a plot hole or a deus ex machina at least that the Death Star happened to have a weakness like that, so making it intentional patches that out, 40 years after the fact.

In my wildest dreams, Jyn will defect to the Empire to capitalize on the first trailer’s line “What will you become?” I doubt that will really happen but I can dream.

Let me know what you’re expecting for Rogue One and check back here for my review after I see it this weekend!