Here’s what the Rogue One sequel may look like

There has been a lot of talk recently about the possibility of a Rogue One: A Star Wars Story sequel. In an interview with Empire Magazine, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said there currently weren’t any plans to make a Rogue One sequel, but that hasn’t stopped people from hypothesizing about what it could look like.

Would Jyn Erso carry out another dangerous mission for the Rebels? Would the Empire’s Director Orson Krennic have a showdown with a Rebellion solider? Would android K-2SO get his true moment of glory with a sequel that’s all about him?

We’re pretty excited about Rogue One and the possibility of what a sequel to a film set just before the events of Episode IV: A New Hope could look like, so we’ve come up with a list of possible things we’d want to see included in a sequel.

Some kind of war

To make it absolutely clear, no one at Polygon has seen Rogue One yet, so it’s impossible for us to say exactly what happens in the movie. But we can make a few educated guesses. Based on the information that we’ve been given so far and the trailers that we’ve seen, it seems like this movie is building up to a Franz Ferdinand situation. The Archduke of Austria-Este, it was the assassination of Ferdinand that led to Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia, and in the long run, the beginning of World War I.

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Something is going to happen in this movie that leads to a war. Maybe even a civil war! Maybe the Rebel spies manage to steal the plans to the Death Star and that leads to the Empire getting pretty upset that their plans have been set back. Going even one step further and getting a little outlandish with this theory, maybe someone is given the plans to hide. In an attempt to keep them as far away from the Empire as possible, they may even hide them in some kind of droid. Maybe, and this is getting really ridiculous, but maybe they also record some kind of holographic message so that way the person who sees the recording knows what to do.

There should definitely be some Jedi

In Rogue One, it is believed that the Jedi have mostly been destroyed. Well, we know that the Jedi are pretty important and it seems unlikely that a sequel wouldn’t at least mention those strongest with the Force. It would be really cool if there was a kind of mentorship between an older Jedi and a younger student. Perhaps the older Jedi is a bit of a recluse and the younger Jedi doesn’t even know he has the power of the Force. He’s something more common, like a mechanic or a farmer! He’s got strong family values, but he dreams of helping the Rebellion take on the Empire. That would be pretty interesting!

If there are Jedi, there’s gotta be lightsabers

It’s like chocolate and peanut butter. Sure you can have them separately, but why would you ever want to? Jedis and lightsabers need to exist together, and if we’re going to use the sequel of Rogue One to introduce Jedis — if they’re not already introduced in this film — then it makes sense for the lightsabers to be of extra importance. Maybe the young hero who doesn’t know he’s a Jedi but becomes one is given a lightsaber from the old hermit. That’s not enough, though. Hmm. Maybe the lightsaber belonged to his sister or his mother? No, definitely his father. It was his father’s lightsaber. And it’s definitely blue.

Some kind of comic relief

Films can get pretty dark — fast. What this sequel needs is comic relief, perhaps in the form of a buddy-cop scenario. There can be the stereotypical, ruggedly handsome individual who flies off the handle easily. He does everything for his own benefit, and doesn’t care much about developing personal relationships. At the end of the day, though, he’s a kind-hearted, selfless human being who will stop at nothing to help his friends in need. Considering this is space, he also probably pilots some kind of spaceship. His partner, on the other hand, isn’t necessarily handsome, but there’s an endearing quality to him. He’s kind and smart, even if people don’t necessarily understand him. His partner in crime is his best friend and the two share a special bond that’s easily noticeable to anyone meeting them for the first time.

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The question is how would these two fit into the rest of the story? Oh! Maybe, just maybe, the young Jedi and older hermit need to fly somewhere for some important reason and they hire the two characters to do so. That works, right?

Where’s the romance?

It wouldn’t be a good story if there wasn’t a little bit of romance happening. But in a film like this, that can be difficult to write in. Luckily, however, we’ve thought of the most outlandish possibility and have decided to run with it. Remember the war angle and the person who hid the plans for the Death Star — which were retrieved in Rogue One — that we mentioned earlier? What about if that person was a young woman of some importance? What if the holographic message was somehow seen by the young Jedi and he had fallen in love with her instantly. Upon their journey, the young Jedi discovers she’s been imprisoned by the Empire and decides to board the enemy ship to save her? There’s absolutely nothing that could go wrong with that scenario! It’s not like they’re related or anything.

A major death

There’s probably going to be a death in Rogue One that ends up leading the Rebel spies to the Death Star plans and allows the soldiers to get away with stealing them, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be another in the sequel. Every good space opera should have a death! I have a feeling in the sequel, if everything has played out according to what we’ve theorized, it’s going to be the old man. Remember the lightsaber he gave to the young Jedi? What if that young Jedi’s father was actually this old hermit’s former friend and they fought each other on this Empire ship? It doesn’t make sense to kill off, what we assume, is the main villain, so it would have to be the old man. It’s a shame, too. He seemed like he was their only hope.

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Of course, like any good Hollywood movie, this will probably end on a happy note with a giant ceremony of some kind. Who knows, this could all be wrong, but we have a feeling that the next movie, which takes place essentially where Rogue One ends off is going to have to do something big to make it stand out.

Rogue One director Gareth Edwards spoke about the possibility of a sequel earlier this year and said if it was going to happen, it would have to be directed by a guy named George Lucas, whoever that is. So keep an eye out for him! He seems like he’s pretty important to the whole Star Wars franchise.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters Dec. 16.