The last time fans, critics and general audiences were firmly in agreement over a Star Wars movie came five years ago when Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One hit theaters. Supporters of a galaxy far, far away widely regard the Anthology spinoff as the best effort of the Disney era, it holds a solid 84% score on Rotten Tomatoes and it raced to over a billion dollars at the box office.
Since then, though, things have been a lot more hit-or-miss. The Last Jedi split opinion down the middle and turned out to be the most divisive entry in the franchise yet, while Solo bombed hard but managed to almost instantly find a new life as a cult favorite, and most folks would agree that The Rise of Skywalker brought the nine-film arc started by George Lucas in 1977 to a painfully underwhelming conclusion.
Throughout it all, Rogue One has remained a beloved part of Star Wars canon, and it’s now trending worldwide for the third time in just a few months. The prequel captured the imaginations of Twitter users last November before doing the same thing a few weeks later to coincide with the fourth anniversary of its release, and as you can see below, it’s happening all over again.
No idea why Rogue One is trending and don’t need to know why because Rogue One rules and it should always be trending. pic.twitter.com/6vYZHDJP0a
— Eric Goldman (@TheEricGoldman) April 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/TheFirstOkiro/status/1378172731330502659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1378172731330502659%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cinemablend.com%2Fnews%2F2565344%2Frogue-one-trending-twitter-ready-standalone-star-wars-movie-cassian-andor-diego-luna-felicity-jones-disney
Rogue One’s cinematography remains unmatched and easily has some of the best in Star Wars pic.twitter.com/mPW3BcWpXz
— Phil • The Horizoneer (@TheHorizoneer) April 3, 2021
I’ll use every instance of Rogue One trending to remind the world that Star Wars made a whistleblower the most crucial figure in history. In a galaxy full of wizards and military geniuses, Bodhi Rook and his conscience quite possibly made the biggest difference. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/L3gZkCoPZD
— Justin Bolger (@JustinMBolger) April 3, 2021
Rogue One is the best of all Star Wars films. It showed the darker side of the rebellion and that i war there’s always going to be tough decisions. Hope was the driving force behind the story and made the audience feel that connection. Plus it has the best droid of the franchise pic.twitter.com/n6tmX3Vfw5
— teatime75 (@teatime75) April 3, 2021
Since Rogue One is trending, let me remind you that this is one of the greatest scenes in Star Wars. pic.twitter.com/ex6BQkxvkp
— Sam Carey (@Sam___Carey) April 3, 2021
Not sure why Rogue One is trending but seems like a good time to remind everyone that this is one of the most viscerally exhilarating moments in all of Star Wars. https://t.co/NkWctkzyou
— Friends of the Force Pod (@FriendsOfForce) April 3, 2021
Rogue One: best Star Wars movie of the Disney era. pic.twitter.com/HtvebdONzD
— John Jmz 🐧 (@johnj1138) April 3, 2021
HOT TAKE: Rogue One is the best Star Wars movie ever made
It has all the magic that made the original Star Wars movies great, PLUS stunning modern special effects to bring it all together. Rogue One is the kind of Star Wars movie we need more of these days. pic.twitter.com/0IeklJIS8L
— Kimin (@Kimin55686484) April 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/ObsKenobs/status/1378169388709384194
Given that the entire main cast was wiped out by the time the credits rolled, a direct sequel was never a possibility. Luckily, though, the Mouse House has a huge amount of original content to create and deliver for Disney Plus, with prequel to a prequel Andor currently in front of cameras to put Diego Luna’s pilot front and center. Sadly, it’s the closest thing we’ll ever get to seeing the adventures of the Rogue One crew continued on the big or small screen, but it’ll do.
