Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Is In Big Trouble, New Director Being Brought In

Oh boy, here we go again. Ever since it was revealed that Disney was ordering reshoots for Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the internet has been going wild. Rumors and speculation have run rampant, with all kinds of reports coming out that seemingly contradicted one another in every imaginable way.

First we heard that the reshoots were just to include a special cameo, and then we were told that the studio wasn’t happy with the tone of the film and ordered that 40% of it be reshot. It was further reported that writer/director Christopher McQuarrie was being called in to help out, but the filmmaker later shot down those rumors. EW also attempted to throw water over the fire by reassuring everyone that nothing was wrong and that these reshoots were planned from the start.

Now, we have another piece to add to the puzzle, as The Playlist thinks that the situation is far worse than we’re being led to believe. Seeing as EW has a pretty good relationship with Disney, it’s likely that their report was to do some damage control for the studio, but as more information comes to light, it appears as if there is definitely some trouble brewing over on the set of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

The Playlist tells us that Tony Gilroy, who did uncredited rewrite work on the film, is “actually supervising, if not helming, the reshoots himself,” meaning that Edwards might have been sidelined for the time being. Furthermore, Latino-Review believes that despite previous reports stating that 40% of Rogue One needed to be reshot, it’s looking more like they’ll have to reshoot “nearly half of the movie.”

Take that in for a second. Half of the movie needs to be reshot. Given that the film is only about six months away from release, that’s incredibly troubling to hear, if it is indeed true. And we’re inclined to believe that it is. Sure, many big blockbusters have had considerable reshoots and turned out alright, but at this stage we just can’t find the confidence to feel optimistic about Rogue One. We’ve simply heard too much about it to believe that all is well with the spinoff.

That being said, the footage we saw in the first trailer really did look excellent and both the cast and Edwards are all very talented individuals, so who knows? Maybe Rogue One: A Star Wars Story can pull together in the end and deliver another epic adventure for fans of the iconic franchise. Right now though, it certainly doesn’t look too good and something tells us that it’s only going to get worse before it gets better.