After a decade-long slumber, the Star Wars franchise awakened last year to the tune of $2.068 billion. Now, just one year after the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, fans are only days away from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hitting theaters. The first of several planned Star Wars anthology films, Rogue One tells the story of the rebel operation arguably most integral to the defeat of the Empire — the theft of the Death Star's blueprints.
Rogue One features an ensemble cast led by Felicity Jones' Jyn Erso. Jyn has some pretty large shoes to fill, as the Star Wars franchise has given us some of the most iconic characters in cinematic history. Outside of the early positive reactions to Rogue One, there is reason to suspect Jyn will become yet another classic Star Wars character. After all, her story is not all that different than Luke Skywalker's and, in fact, is essential to the latter's journey in the original trilogy.
In anticipation of Rogue One's release in theaters, Regal Cinemas and Screen Rant recently partnered to develop a video exploring the legacy of the film's central character, Jyn Erso. You can watch the entire video, titled "The Legacy of Jyn Erso," above.
Much like the Star Wars films that precede it, Rogue One is essentially a story about family. While the Skywalker family was torn apart by Anakin's seduction by the dark side, Erso must overcome her father Galen Erso's (Mads Mikkelsen) part in the creation of the Death Star. And just like Luke Skywalker, who joins the rebellion largely because of Darth Vader, Jyn too becomes a part of the Rebel Alliance due to the sins of her father.
It is still too early to know how fans will react to Jyn and whether she will develop the same iconic status as Luke, Leia, and Han. Still, as the video above points out, Erso is already extremely important to Star Wars lore as the "hero that sets the stage for Luke Skywalker's first major victory." As we know, without the blueprints to the Death Star, Luke would never have destroyed the Empire's greatest weapon, and likely never would have gone on the path of becoming a Jedi, an event that remains integral to the ongoing plot of the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
A looming question heading into Rogue One is whether Erso, or any of the characters involved in the plan to steal the Death Star's schematics, will survive the events of the film. The next installment in the series of Star Wars anthology films will be a prequel featuring Han Solo, likely set around the same time (probably a bit earlier) as Rogue One. So, even if Erso, or others, do not survive their mission, we may not have heard the last of them.
Source: Regal Movies
