While we know that the upcoming Star Wars filmRogue One is set to be a major box office hit, it appears that won’t be seeing a sequel. Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy has confirmed that the film will remain a standalone entry into blockbuster Star Wars franchise.
In a new interview with Empire, Kennedy states (via Slashfilm) that the film she jokingly referred to as Rogue Two will not be happening. The magazine also quotes director Gareth Edwards as stating that if the film did have a sequel, it “will be directed by George Lucas.” Rogue One is set immediately before the events of Lucas’ original Star Wars.
Kennedy’s comments follow suit with those made late last year, when she stated that the future spinoffs “are not being designed to necessarily build new franchises. They will very definitely have a beginning, middle, and end.”
The second Star Wars spinoff film is set to be a Han Solo movie, which is due in 2018. Earlier this month, Kennedy said that the film will have asort of “heist or Western type feel.” She added that the film’s producers have used the paintings of American Old West artist Frederic Remington, specifically his use of primary colors, as a reference point for the “look and feel of the film.”
Advance tickets for Rogue One went on sale on Monday. Variety has reported that the movie has netted the second-highest first day of pre-sales in US box office history. Box office estimates peg it at making $130 million or more for its December 16-18 opening weekend in the US. That would be the second-biggest December US opening in history, behind only 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
