How Does ‘Rogue One’ Connect to ‘Episode VIII’?
An infographic showing the ways in which this month’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story connects with other properties in the franchise has provoked speculation that there’s more than meets the eye about the prequel to 1977’s original Star Wars movie. Could there really be a hidden connection between Rogue One and next year’s Star Wars: Episode VIII?
What caused the speculation was a timeline map of the Star Wars properties from Entertainment Weekly, which connects Gareth Edwards’ upcoming movie not only with Star Wars: A New Hope and the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars — where the character of Saw Gerrera, played by Forest Whitaker in the movie, debuted — but also with 2017’s Episode VIII, without any explanation.
It’s possible that the red line connecting the two projects is a mistake, or merely an indicator of where Rogue One falls in the production timeline… or, alternately, there’s a chance that there really is some mythology connecting the two movies.
Cynically, this is a smart move — laying groundwork for the much-anticipated next installment of the “main saga” movies in the first of the standalone spin-offs signals to the audience that the Star Wars Story movies “matter” to the bigger picture, driving attendance. Building…