10 Things You Need To Know About The Star Wars Spin-Off Movies

1. The First One Will (Probably) Deal With Stealing The Death Star Plans

The most recent plot rumour for Gareth Edwards' spin-off, first reported only a month ago, was that it would be dealing with the early-state Rebel Alliance and their stealing of the Death Star plans. Although this flies in the face of the Boba Fett and Han Solo speculation, the looking for a Leia-like actress and innate difficulties of those ideas (how do you maintain the cool factor when the rogues are heroes?) make a strong case that at some point the plan has changed. And what a plan change it is - if you're going to make a Star Wars spin-off, there's few better sources than the very first bit of lore audiences experienced. It's an idea brimming with potential. The whole A New Hope preamble has a link to all later events through Leia and offers up a chance for a Vader cameo, which ticks all the major audience recognition boxes. And, given that the seeds of the Rebellion were one of the few elements of the Original Trilogy not spelled out in the Prequels, it's the logical next step in expanding the existing story. The Death Star plan-stealing has been explored in the Expanded Universe previously, providing the narrative to classic FPS Star Wars: Dark Forces, although a big screen version would likely eschew sneaking and shootouts in favour of a more heist driven story. What other elements it'll include will slowly drip as production gets into gear, but for now let's hope the end product's a bit better received than the last time Star Wars tried to explain its backstory. What do you want to see in a Star Wars spin-off? Will they be able to live up to the original movies? Share your thoughts down in the comments.