The co-screenwriter of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has shared an entirely different vision of what a spin-off television series could look like. Rogue One ends with its main characters dying despite succeeding in their goal to steal the Death Star plans, so it was surprising for some fans to learn that the series was getting a spin-off show this year. However, that series - Andor, featuring Diego Luna reprising the title role - is a prequel following the Rebel's journey before the events of the film.On his official Twitter account, Gary Whitta (who co-wrote Rogue One with Chris Weitz) shared an idea for a potential spin-off that they had when writing the original script. He and Weitz thought that a Rogue One-related TV series could follow a "Mossad-style Rebel team hunting down Imperial war criminals" after the fall of the Empire in Return of the Jedi. However, they never pursued bringing that idea to fruition in any way, especially considering the fact that live-action Star Wars series wouldn't kick off in earnest until The Mandalorian premiered three years after Rogue One came to theaters. Check out his post below:
Why Andor Is Better Than A Rogue One Follow-Up Show
As far as it relates to shows specifically grappling with the characters and themes of Rogue One, it makes much more sense for Disney+'s two-season series Andor to take up that mantle. For one thing, though it didn't exist at the time that they were conceiving the idea of their own spin-off series, The Mandalorian has already filled in the story gaps that the Rogue One writers were looking to explore. That series dug deep into the criminal underbelly of the post-Empire galaxy and how the remaining imperial loyalists chose to spend their time.
It also doesn't make too much sense for a Rogue One spin-off to actually be a sequel. Rogue One's ending leads almost directly into the beginning of the very first Star Wars movie, 1977's A New Hope, as the plans that Andor and his team obtain lead directly to Luke Skywalker's successful mission to destroy the original Death Star. The next several years of the Star Wars universe have already been covered by the original film trilogy, so any direct ties to Rogue One would be muddied by the acres of canonical material standing between the events of the spin-off film and the fall of the Empire.
A prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story generally makes the most sense. The state of the rebellion before A New Hope hasn't been explored quite as much in live-action, though there is a wealth of material to work from in the extended Star Wars universe. There are also a whole host of interesting original characters introduced in the film that, despite their ultimate fate at the end, are worth exploring in a broader context in whatever way possible.
Source: Gary Whitta/Twitter