MOVIE NEWS – This summer, LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy told during an interview – surprising everyone – that the first Star Wars spin-off, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, may not have an opening crawl like every Star Wars movies and games so far.

Now, after the end of the post-production, Gareth Edwards has validated that indeed there will be no opening crawl at all. Still, there will be something else fans will probably like at the beginning of the film.

“There is no opening crawl. But there is a prolog at the start of the movie that takes place 15 years before the action of the film, and that is how the action is exposed. Our film comes from the text of Episode IV if we give the text, it would be endless. We had to differentiate Rogue One from the rest of the saga.”

There are some rumors circulating, that the Rogue One ending will take place just some minutes before Princess Leia gives the Death Star plans to R2-D2 in the very opening moments of A New Hope. As for this prolog, which will provide for some of the large gaps between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, it will be the story of young Jon and her relationship with the absent father Galen Erso, who is robbed from their home by new villain Director Krennic to start working on the Death Star.

Jyn’s mother will also be introduced in this opening, as she teaches Jyn about the force, giving her a Kyber crystal, a mineral that is used to fuel and power the Death Star. A great big portion of this opening prolog has been shown in some of the trailers, with a lot of it revealed in an international sneak peek, which we’ve included below.

Gareth Edwards was also asked some “yes or no” questions in this interview, courtesy of Star Wars News Net, and his answers are quite telling. The director was asked point-blank whether or not three iconic characters from the original trilogy will make appearances in the movie, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker). While he did state that Luke Skywalker wasn’t in the film, he would only say, “I cannot answer,” when asked about Princess Leia and R2-D2. Given the previous plot rumors about Princess Leia and R2-D2, it certainly seems possible that they could surface at the end of this film.

The director was also asked if there would be any lightsabers shown in the movie, but he would only state that “Darth Vader has one,” although he would not confirm if the villain uses it or not. Regardless, we’ll find out answers to all of our burning questions in just 15 days when Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters. We’ll be sure to keep you posted with more updates on this exciting adventure as the countdown towards this release continues.