Remember that time we were more or less promised a new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer and it never happened? Yeah. Though our hearts may never truly recover, our minds know how to move on and can now enjoy the slow trickle of new Rogue One info ahead of an actual new trailer slated for release later this week. Entertainment Weekly has the latest scoop, with Rogue One director Gareth Edwards opening up about the spiritual value of Jedha.
"The Force is basically in Star Wars like a religion, and they're losing their faith in the period that we start the movie," Edwards toldEW Monday. "We were trying to find a physical location we could go to that would speak to the themes of losing your faith and the choice between letting the Empire win, or evil win, and good prevailing. It got embodied in this place we called Jedha."
The religion vibes are especially heavy in Rogue One, with Edwards describing the locale as a place where Force followers could "go on a pilgrimage." Jedha, however, has been occupied by the Empire and is thus cramping believers' style. "There's something very important in Jedha that serves both the Jedi and the Empire," Edwards noted. "It felt very much like something we could relate to in the real world." Hmmm.
"If it's a really ancient religion, as Obi-Wan Kenobi said, it's got to exist in thousands or millions of people in the galaxy," Edwards said. As noted by EW, the "something very important" that rests in Jedha could very well be kyber crystals crucial to the construction of the Death Star's deadly laser capabilities.
But don't take it from Edwards or even us. Treating the teachings of Star Wars as actual gospel is a pastime so popular in certain corners of the world, would-be Jedis are gleefully screwing up census stats. The release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on Dec. 16 should only embolden them.
