Felicity Jones Has One Sequel Option In Her 'Rogue One' Contract
In the lead-up to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, it was said time and time again that the first standalone Star Wars movie will not be getting a sequel. But a new report claims that Felicity Jones, who plays Jyn Erso in the film, is under contract for one sequel. That's the basic news. It ends there. Everything else from beyond this point is a Rogue One spoiler as we delve into what a sequel would look like and how Jyn Erso could be involved. That's your only warning.
Okay. One more. Spoiler, spoiler, spoiler. C'mon. Don't be that person who scrolls down and yells at me.
You still with us? You've seen Rogue One? You witnessed the film's harrowing final act, which is easily the greatest action sequence in any Star Wars movie?
Then you know that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story doesn't knock off a few characters, it kills off the entire cast. It shoots them full of holes. Blows them to pieces. Offers them sad, lonely demises on smoky beaches surrounded by strangers. And then the movie brings in the Death Star to incinerate their corpses and leave nothing left. The only possible sequel to Rogue One already exists. It's called Star Wars. They made it in 1977. It takes place moments after Rogue One destroys everyone, including Jyn Erso, who embraces Cassian Andor as the Death Star superlaser Terminator 2: Judgment Day's the ever-loving shit out of them.
Still, I have no doubt in my mind that The Hollywood Reporter has it right: Felicity Jones almost assuredly has a sequel in her contract. And she doesn't have it because Jyn Erso miraculously survived getting Melancholia'd to death or because Lucasfilm is planning a prequel – she has that option because Jyn probably survived in the original version of the movie. As our own Peter Sciretta explored by going through the Rogue One marketing, it seems that the film originally had a completely different ending that was tossed out and reshot. In that ending, Jyn probably lived to fight another day.
Strangely, the THR article suggests that this Jyn sequel may be connected to "a young Luke Skywalker stand-alone," which is bizarre for two reasons. First of all, Jyn has literally been transformed into stardust and won't be appearing in a sequel anytime soon. And second...who the hell is asking for a Luke Skywalker sequel? Before he meets Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke lives a boring, humdrum life on a moisture farm on Tatooine, dreaming of bigger and better things. It's kind of, you know, vital to the character that nothing interesting happens to him before R2-D2 and C-3Po show up. This is just a silly idea. Just stop beating around the bush and the make the "middle-aged Obi-Wan fights vicious Hutt cartels in the Tatooine desert" movie that everyone really wants.
Rogue One is in theaters now. Everyone dies at the end. There will not be a Rogue Two.