10 Ways Rogue One Changed Star Wars Forever, 7 Years Later

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was Lucasfilm’s first anthology film in the franchise which proved to change the future of Star Wars in a handful of ways. The film centers on the titular Rogue One crew – one of the many meanings behind Rogue One‘s title – as they seek to steal the plans of the Empire’s Death Star for the Rebel Alliance. This places the film directly before the original 1977 Star Wars, serving as the fourth chronological movie when watching Star Wars in order and discounting the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars film.

Given the film’s direct ties to A New Hope, Rogue One was expected to change the perception of the entire Star Wars original trilogy. This expectation became a reality with the added effects Rogue One had on the wider franchise under Disney’s watch. From the impact the film has had on upcoming Star Wars TV shows to the added legacy of certain characters, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story changed the entire franchise in ways that cannot be understated.

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10 Rogue One Gave A First Live-Action Look At Different Force Groups

Chirrut Îmwe & Baze Malbus belong to a group named the Guardians of the Whills.

Firstly, one way Rogue One impacted Star Wars is by giving live-action introductions to other Force-related groups. For much of Star Wars’ feature films before this point, the primary Force groups shown were the Jedi and the Sith. However, Rogue One introduced a religious group that protected the Temple of the Kyber on Jedha named the Guardians of the Whills to which Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus belonged in the film. This opened the door for Star Wars to explore other Force-related groups such as the Nightsisters that were featured in live-action in Ahsoka season 1.

9 Rogue One Was More Grounded Than Any Other Star Wars Movie

Rogue One’s tone reflected the war of Star Wars rather than the galaxy-faring fantasy aspects of the franchise.

More so than any other Star Wars property before it, Rogue One captured the gritty, boots-on-the-ground aspect of warfare that had rarely been shown in the franchise’s past. In focusing on Rebel Alliance soldiers rather than the space wizards of the Jedi Order, Rogue One became a much more grounded movie in a way that directly influenced Star Wars’ future. The development of Andor, a Disney+ show centering on one of Rogue One‘s characters, continued this tone brilliantly, while other shows like The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian opted to explore more grounded stories than the exploits of the Jedi and Sith.

8 Saw Gerrera Began Disney Star Wars’ Animation-To-Live-Action Transitions

Saw Gerrera was the first of many Star Wars characters to be portrayed in live-action from animated origins.

One of the primary characters of Rogue One was Saw Gerrera, Forest Whitaker’s paranoid rebel extremist. Gerrera was a character first used in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, whose older version was chosen for a role in Rogue One. This set the precedent for Disney to begin transitioning more characters who originated in animated projects into live-action. From the crew of the animated Star Wars Rebels who appeared in The Mandalorian and Ahsoka to the likes of Bo-Katan Kryze, Ahsoka Tano, Cad Bane, Captain Rex, and Huyang who originated in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Saw Gerrera was the beginning of this concept in Rogue One.

7 Rogue One Raised The Bar For Darth Vader’s Presence In Star Wars Properties

Darth Vader’s future domineering appearances were shaped by Rogue One’s interpretation of the villain.

Perhaps the most discussed element of Rogue One was the cameo of Darth Vader in which the Sith Lord massacred a squad of Rebel Alliance troops in a desperate attempt to retrieve the Death Star’s plans. This moment single-handedly changed how Darth Vader’s presence was utilized in Star Wars from that point on. While the character has always been the franchise’s best villain, never had he been shown in such a destructive, villainous nature. This continued in Star Wars projects like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka, where the much more hate-filled, aggressive side of Vader from Rogue One was employed over the original trilogy’s more reserved depiction of the iconic antagonist.

6 Rogue One Introduced Cassian Andor – Star Of Lucasfilm’s Best Live-Action Star Wars TV Show

One of Rogue One’s characters ushered in an unprecedented critical reception for Star Wars TV.

From 2022 onwards, the best live-action Star Wars TV show was Andor. Andor is a spin-off of Rogue One which chronicles the events of the titular Cassian Andor’s life before he sacrificed himself to steal the Death Star plans in the latter project. The critical reaction to Andor was unlike any other Star Wars show in 2022, with the wait for Andor season 2 remaining agonizingly long. Without Rogue One’s introduction of Cassian, this major aspect of Star Wars‘ TV success in the early 2020s would not have been possible, highlighting yet another impact the 2016 anthology film had on the wider franchise.

5 Rogue One Returned To Star Wars’ Everyman Roots

The characters of Rogue One did not need to be Jedi or belong to a special bloodline to be a force for good.

Another consequential way Rogue One impacted Star Wars is by reverting the franchise to its everyman roots. Rogue One showcased that people did not have to be noticeably special to make a difference in the galaxy. The crew of Rogue One did not have to be Force-sensitive characters, Jedi, or belong to a notable bloodline to bring about change in the galaxy. Unlike the story of the Skywalker Saga, a seemingly lowly group of morally questionable soldiers can fight against the tyrannical Empire, something that stories like Andor and The Mandalorian continued while Star Wars: The Last Jedi attempted to take mainline Star Wars characters in this direction.

4 Rogue One Fixed One Of A New Hope’s Biggest Plot Holes

A New Hope’s Death Star plot convenience was reshaped forever by Rogue One’s story.

One way Rogue One changed Star Wars is by completely altering the perception of the first-ever film in the franchise: A New Hope. One of the biggest plot contrivances in A New Hope‘s plot was that targeting a tiny exhaust vent in the station’s gigantic construction was enough to cause it to completely explode. However, Rogue One changed this by exploring Galen Erso, the man responsible for the Death Star’s blueprints.

Knowing that the Empire would stop at nothing to get him to build the weapon, Galen made himself look like an Imperial sympathizer by constructing the Death Star. Rogue One revealed that Galen intentionally implemented a flaw into the Death Star’s blueprints, the same exhaust vent used in A New Hope. The fix was incredibly simple, yet overwhelmingly changed the outlook of A New Hope’s story. In making the flaw an intentional design element so that the Rebel Alliance could destroy the Death Star, Rogue One changed the original trilogy completely.

3 Rogue One Began Star Wars’ CGI Re-Creations Of Classic Characters

The usage of CGI to bring Star Wars characters back to live-action began in Rogue One.

Aside from Vader’s rampage, the element of Rogue One that caused the most discourse was the CGI re-creation of Star Wars characters like Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia. This element changed Star Wars completely in two major ways. For one, the CGI re-creation of older, perhaps even deceased actors was met with a large amount of controversy that is still a point of debate seven years after Rogue One‘s premiere. The second way these CGI elements in Rogue One changed Star Wars was their continued usage, such as Luke Skywalker’s appearances in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett which could even continue into upcoming Star Wars movies.

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2 Rogue One Created A Standard For Star Wars’ Future Space Battles

The Battle of Scariff changed Star Wars’ space battles for the better.

The Battle of Scariff at the end of Rogue One was widely regarded as one of the franchise’s best space battles upon the film’s release. Through this, Rogue One changed the standard expected of all future space battles in a galaxy far, far away. From the innovations of The Last Jedi‘s opening space battle that were inspired by Rogue One‘s POV cockpit shots to the fan-service moments of The Rise of Skywalker‘s Battle of Exegol that borrowed from Rogue One‘s crowd-pleasing moments, the 2016 film reshaped what space battles could look, feel, and sound like in Star Wars.

1 Rogue One Proved That Star Wars Spin-Offs Can Work

Star Wars’ continued success outside of the Skywalker Saga is down to Rogue One’s positive impact.

Finally, the last way in which Rogue One changed Star Wars forever is by proving spin-offs could work. Before Rogue One, the only spin-off of Star Wars in film and TV was The Clone Wars, which even then was tied to the prequel trilogy. Through Rogue One and characters like Cassian Andor, the film proved that spin-offs of classic Star Wars films have merit.

This was somewhat continued with Solo: A Star Wars Story which has gained a cult following of fans who wish for more anthology films in Star Wars. While Solo was Star Wars’ first true box office flop, the reception to the film has only grown more positive over time. Evidently, none of this would have been possible without Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and the way the film irreversibly changed the franchise it was part of in a myriad of beneficial ways.