Star Wars: Rogue One director reveals Jyn Erso's mother was originally going to be a Jedi from the Clone Wars

'The prologue was going to be the Empire coming to kill the Jedi'

Many critics complimented Rogue One on being able to keep an incredibly similar aesthetic to the original Star Wars, those last minutes seamlessly going straight into A New Hope.

Along with links to the sequel trilogy, director Gareth Edwards originally had plans to include more references to the prequels, mainly the Clone Wars.

“The prologue, at one point a long time ago, was going to be the Empire coming to kill the Jedi,” Edwards told Entertainment Weekly. “And Jyn’s mum was going to be a Jedi.”

However, despite planning to have Krennic murder Jyn’s mother in Rogue One’s prologue, the idea was ultimately scrapped as Edwards didn’t want Jyn to be a Force wielder.

“Our instinct told us that we wanted a scene where Jyn is orphaned because of what Krennic does, which sets her on her path of being a child of war,” says Edwards.

“Eventually, we came up with the idea that her father should have designed the Death Star. That became a stronger way into the stealing of the Death Star plans. We let go of the mother being a Jedi, and she became just a rebellious mum.”

Gary Whitta - who wrote the original screenplay for Rogue One - worried that fans wouldn’t want a Star Wars story that was focussed on regular Rebels rather than Jedi.

“This would be the first Star Wars film that did not have a Jedi factor,” Whitta told the aforementioned publication. “I was concerned about it for a while.

“They are basically extinct. There are two left [Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi], and they’re in hiding. You’re not going to see a Jedi in this film. How do we still get some element of the fact that the Force hasn’t gone anywhere? That it’s just in the background?”

The original prologue would have feature Jyn’s mother drawing her lightsaber to protect both Jyn and her husband. As we all know, the screenplay ended up focussing on Jyn’s father - played by Mads Mikkelsen - who originally created the Death Star.

“We just had to pick a lane,” Edwards says. “We ended up feeling like her father should be the reason this thing existed. The guilt for that felt like better motivation in stealing the Death Star plans.”

Instead of Jedi mum, the writers decided to focus on Donnie Yen’s character Chirrut Imwe, a Guardian of the Whills devoted to the ways of the Jedi.

Meanwhile, rumoured details regarding Episode VIII: The Last Jedi have been reported online, hinting at three iconic locations making an appearance in the film.