I finally got around to watching Rogue One last weekend. When did it come out, 2015? I don’t know, I just didn’t want to watch yet another movie about the fucking Death Star. (Yes, I know it’s not about the Death Star, it’s about other stuff, but the Death Star is prominently featured.)

They had just resurrected the damn thing again with The Force Awakens and I was like ENOUGH with the fucking Death Star already! Like Star Wars had become The Death Star franchise—I was so done. That was also around my Fuck Disney phase too, and I was just having none of it.

Years later when when my friends began talking about The Mandalorian, I completely refused—Fuck Disney, remember?

Photo by Michael Marais on Unsplash

I don’t know what it was that made me finally cave. It may have been Marvel, but that doesn’t feel right. See? My subconscious even knows enough to hide my shame. Anyway I did cave, fell to the Dark Side sometime in ‘21. But it still took me until recently to watch anything Star Wars. Of course I fell in love with the fucking Mandalorian during the first episode.

Actually fell in love with what Disney was doing with the entire franchise. Boba Fett, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi. My god those are some good shows. I was forced to accept that two things can be true: Fuck Disney AND the Star Wars franchise is some of the best television out there.

Back to Rogue One. So my friend and I were about finished with Andor when I told her it was supposed to be a prequel to Rogue One, she was like WE HAVE TO WATCH ROGUE ONE!

*sigh* Fine. Truthfully, by this point I had softened in my position, especially after the closing shot of Andor. I was looking forward to the movie.

I was genuinely surprised how good Rogue One was. In quality, it was what I thought The Force Awakens was going to be. In truth, it could have worked as the seventh installment, those movies didn’t have to be the Skywalker saga. (Full disclosure: I haven’t seen eps eight and nine, because I just don’t care anymore.)

As far as I’m concerned, The Mandalorian, Boba Fett, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, (and hopefully Ahsoka) have totally revitalized my interest in the franchise. I’m more interested in these stories, and I hope the franchise continues to grow in this direction.

If I have any beef, it’s with the fact that everybody has been playing fast and loose with Star Wars canon from the beginning and I hate it. As a writer, I get it, I really do. You come up with what you think is a better/easier idea and you want to go with that instead of figuring out how to mold canon to your vision. Honestly, I understand. But really, what’s the point of creating a universe if you refuse to keep the rules straight? Stop telling me one thing and then completely reversing that thing because it’s more convenient!

Anakin Skywalker was a pilot and peer of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Cassian Andor spent his entire life fighting the Empire.

But you say—Susan, the story of Cassian’s radicalization was more compelling! And I would agree. You can also try and tell me his speech about fighting the Empire since he was six was referring to those non-ideological guerrilla raids his tribe of kids was doing and I would give you a serious side-eye for it. Yes, it could have been a bit of manipulation on his part, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Cassian Andor in Andor and the Cassian Andor in Rogue One are two different people and it bugs me.

I’m sure they didn’t plan on giving Cassian a whole series, and just ended up plucking him out and creating a story—but then at that rate, the title character could have been anybody, and the story still could have worked as a prequel to Rogue One.

I know, I get hung up on things that don’t really matter. But these are the kind of things that really, really bug me. It’s why I try so hard to stick to my own canon. There are tiny differences between my stories, it’s true. If you write things at different times, things can’t help but change, and I realize and accept that. But there’s a differnece between small, convenient changes and completely rewriting an entire backstory! I think things I’ve altered are tiny and even if caught won’t prompt angry midnight letters about how I fucked up a certain character and ruined a reader’s trust. At least I hope so.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to more shows in the Star Wars universe – that is if the AMPTP don’t scuttle everything in retaliation for the writers and actors going on strike.

Here’s hoping for more good things coming in the future!

Until next time.