Why Killing The Entire Rogue One Crew Was Important To The Overall Story
Rogue One is one of the most daring pieces of Star Wars content. The direct prequel to A New Hope differs from the trilogies surrounding it but is one of the best and most essential pieces of content to come out despite its tone and finality. Of course, most fans would have preferred at least one member of the main group to survive, but if they did, it would’ve ruined the overall quality of the narrative.
Rogue One follows the story of Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor. Andor, a Rebel soldier with grey morals, is tasked with a secret mission and paired with the daughter of an Imperial officer. Jyn is a captured (former) Rebel soldier on the run, looking to keep her head down and out of trouble. She has been on her own for years and is told that her father helped create a weapon that could destroy the Rebel Alliance. A defected Imperial pilot, with vital information on how to defeat the weapon, has surfaced on the planet Jedha and is being held by her former allies.
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The Rebels need Jyn to provide an introduction to the group holding the pilot and will trade her freedom for said meeting. Their mission is somewhat successful, with them receiving the message, rescuing the pilot, and making a few allies. Jyn, reeling from the loss of her father, immediately tries to convince the Rebel Alliance that they need to attack quickly and attempt to steal the Death Star plans, but since the physical message was destroyed (with her being the only person alive to have seen it), the Rebels are skeptical. Cassian, Jyn, and her new allies gather what soldiers they can and head out on the suicide mission themselves.
The group, while successful in the end, pays for that success with their lives. Each death, while heartbreaking, has a purpose. The mission faced several problems, and every solution cost a Rebel their life. Bodhi gets blown up but informs the fleet that the only way to transmit the plans is to destroy the shield gate. Chirrut walks out in the middle of a firefight to power the line that gives Bhodi a chance. Baze, distraught and angered over the loss of his partner, eliminates all the remaining Death troopers but is blown up in the end. K-2SO (Andor’s droid) was destroyed but informed Andor and Jyn how to finally transmit the plans. Jyn and Cassian collapsed on a beach while destruction raced towards them but passed knowing that they had finally sent the Death Star plans to the Rebellion, giving them “a new hope.”
Rogue One took many risks. It’s the first Star Wars movie (at the time) to not feature a “good guy” with a lightsaber. It connected random pieces of lore from each trilogy. It cast a woman and a Mexican man (with his full accent) as its lead and didn’t force a love story or a kiss at the end. We hear children crying during shootouts; even a stormtrooper calls a rebel a “terrorist.” The movie is brilliant in its realism (for a space movie where people move things with their minds), and that realism would have been broken if we pointlessly saved these characters.
Rogue One gave the audience a fresh, more realistic movie while keeping what makes Star Wars great. We get amazing Easter eggs like the bar patrons (from episode 4) on Jedha and the backstory on how Luke becomes Red 5. They mention project War-Mantle and give us our first glimpses of what would eventually become the Dark Troopers. Unfortunately, we may never get to see some of these characters we love again, but a prequel series (Andor) is on the way, and it is possible (besides K2 and Cassian) that we may get a few surprises.
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Source(s): IMDB