To promote the launch of the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story toy line, Disney and Lucasfilm have produced a series of “Go Rogue” videos using the upcoming Rogue One toys (including Hasbro action figures, LEGO sets, and Funko toys among others) created by a team of superfans. The four-part series tells the story of Jyn Erso and her Rebel team as they track down the instruction manual to the LEGO Death Star before the Empire can find it and build their ultimate weapon.
While the “Go Rogue” toy shorts will probably not spoil the film in terms of key plot points or developments, they may offer hints and clues as to the content of the film. Here’s a look at what the videos may have revealed about the upcoming film.
New Location
Two planets seen in the Rogue One trailers have been identified – Jedha and Scarif. But the third short introduces the rain-soaked planet of Eadu. While Eadu might be an original creation for the purposes of the shorts, it is notable as being the only “new” element in the short films. As such, it is possible that Eadu is a new location introduced in the film, just one that has been kept out of promotional material until now.
But what part could Eadu play (if any) in Rogue One? At the end of the third “Go Rogue” short, Cassian Andor is captured on the planet by the Empire with K-2SO pretending to still be an Imperial droid. In the Rogue One trailers we see the Rebels in an Imperial installation of some kind. Some speculate that this is the interior of the Death Star itself. Could the Rebels have been rescuing Andor from Imperial captivity on Eadu instead?
Team Dynamics
Until now, fans have been working on the assumption that the team tasked with stealing the Death Star plans is formed around Jyn Erso. The “Go Rogue” shorts indicate differently. It appears that Cassian Andor already leads a small Rebel team consisting of himself, K-2SO, Chirrut Îmwe, and Baze Malbus. Jyn appears to operate as a lone operative but with Bodhi Rook as her transport pilot. Pao appears to come into the narrative much later after the initial squad has formed.
Instead of recruiting a squad for the mission, could the Rogue One team be a mix of various Rebel squads with ties to either Jyn or Andor? Could the squads start out with different assignments and objectives, only to be thrown together after the severity of the situation surrounding the Death Star plans is revealed?
Death Star Plans
While the splitting of the Death Star plans into two halves may be just a humorous joke because the real Lego instruction manual for the Death Star set is in two parts, it might indicate a larger plot point. If Andor does indeed lead a Rebel team, perhaps they come across the information regarding the Death Star and then have to go after the actual plans. Or perhaps there are in fact two halves of the puzzle, with the team needing to secure both to reveal the final location of the Death Star.
If there are indeed two halves to the Death Star plans, it might also be an intentional reference to the Star Wars Legends stories that recount the theft of the Death Star plans. The books, novels and comics told several conflicting stories about who stole the plans. Eventually, supplementary material reconciled all versions of the story into a cohesive whole with several teams stealing parts of the plans to assemble a complete set of plans.
