Rogue One: 8 Ways It Could Enhance The Star Wars Mythology

It's gonna enrich the universe, I swear!

By Sam Hill /

There are a healthy number of Star Wars fans who aren't on board with upcoming spin-off flick Rogue One for the simple reason that it's a prequel.

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Set to recount the gritty tale of how a group of Rebels managed to steal the plans for the Death Star out from under the Empire's nose (thus enabling Luke Skywalker to destroy the moon-sized weapon at the end of the original film), they see Rogue One's aim to fill in this particular gap in the mythology as an unnecessary endeavour.

We already know how the story ends, after all; we know that the good guys are going to ultimately prevail, nab the schematics and send them across to Princess Leia kicking the original trilogy into action.

What the naysayers have failed to see, however, is all the ways in which Rogue One could enhance the Star Wars mythology; ways in which this prequel could lend a lot of weight to the films that follow on from it chronologically, which - in turn - could actually serve to make the classic Episodes even better...

8. It's An Opportunity To See A Completely Different Side Of Darth Vader

For a long ol' time, in the gap between Episodes III and IV, Darth Vader went to work. He wasn't in that douchey, Hayden Christensen form, and he wasn't - as seen in Episodes IV to VI - compelled to face off against his former master or track down his long lost son. As a member of the Empire, he had sh*t to do just like everyone else.

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Which means that Rogue One will offer Star Wars fans a brand new and interesting take on everybody's favourite villain; an opportunity to see Vader during his "middle period." And, of course, this can only be a good thing given that the last time we saw this character was during the events of Episode III, and nobody liked the broody, teenage Anakin of those films.

Vader popping up here, even if it's just in a small role or cameo capacity, gives the Star Wars franchise a chance to fix this villain and erase the terrible memories of prequel Anakin. Rogue One can show fans why Darth Vader is the most feared badass in the entire galaxy prior to his involvement with Luke Skywalker, and - in its exploration of such things - help to make this character a far richer individual.

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