While filmmaker Gareth Edwards appreciates Rogue One: A Star Wars Story‘s success, he’s focused on the future.
When recently asked by Business Insider if he would make another Star Wars film, the director responded, “I’m very happy to move on and do my thing.”
Rogue One, which starred Felicity Jones and Diego Luna, was the first spinoff movie in the Star Wars franchise. The 2016 film followed a group of unlikely heroes who band together on a mission to steal the plans for the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction.
The film went on to gross more than $1 billion worldwide at the box office and earned more praise after the release of the Disney+ prequel series Andor. While some fans have called Rogue One the best Star Wars movie since Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012, Edwards disagreed. “I don’t agree with it, but I appreciate it,” he said. “I’m very grateful that people say nice things.”
As the film approaches its 10th anniversary next year, the Jurassic World Rebirth director added that he went into Rogue One thinking about its longevity in cinema, not necessarily its opening box office numbers.
“What you have to keep in your pocket as you go through making other films is that it’s not about how people feel the day it gets released, it’s how people feel about it 10, 20 years from now,” he explained. “When you make a movie, you’re living at least a year from now, you’re trying to imagine what it’s like, all these decisions you’re making, what they are going to be like a year from now when this movie is released, what’s the audience going to think?”
“And as the movie comes out, you go, ‘I’m going to pretend I’m living 10 years from now, and it doesn’t matter what people say in the moment,’” Edwards continued. “It’s the kid who comes up to you 20 years from now and goes, ‘Oh my god, I loved that movie!’ I think that’s the reward.”