Jyn Erso’s mom in Rogue One was originally supposed to be a Jedi

Director Gareth Edwards has revealed a little more about Jyn Erso’s mother, a character who was only on screen for a few minutes at the very beginning. Edwards told Entertainment Weekly that originally Rogue One was going to act as a bridge between the prequel trilogy and Clone Wars. One of the arcs they explored to make that happen was to make Jyn’s mom a member of the Jedi knights.

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

One of the main reasons Edwards and the writers on Rogue One decided not to pursue it was because they didn’t want Jyn to have Force-wielding abilities. If her mother was a member of the Jedi Knights, that could lead to hypothesis and questions from fans about whether Jyn could potentially be a Jedi in her own right.

“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 mom.”

The team realized Rogue One would be the first Star Wars movie without any Jedi, and although that was concerning at first, they decided that as long as they had a character who could feel the Force, it would be fine. Instead of getting Jyn to fill that role, Chirrut Imwe was the true believer who wound up being the perfect fit.

“The character that feels the Force is a believer, and he has that faith-based spiritual element but isn’t actually a Jedi knight,” Gary Whitta, former screenwriter, said.

More information about Rogue One will accompany both digital and Blu-ray releases. The digital version of the movie goes on sale this Friday and the Blu-ray will be available to buy on April 4.