Director Gareth Edwards made a name for himself with 2014’s Godzilla, which laid the foundation for the commercially successful Monsterverse franchise. Edwards tasted further success with 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which received critical acclaim and is widely considered one of the best entries in the franchise since Empire Strikes Back.
However, after directing two franchise movies, Edwards has remained away from blockbuster filmmaking. During an interview, Edwards was asked whether he would be willing to make a return to franchise filmmaking. Edwards left the door open on a potential return to Star Wars but also set up his condition for undertaking another movie in the hit franchise.
Gareth Edwards Reveals His Condition For Returning to Star Wars After Making Rogue One
British director Gareth Edwards earned many plaudits for his work on 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which is set before the events of 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope directed by franchise creator George Lucas. The film grossed $1.058 billion at the global box office and is regarded as one of the best Star Wars movies since the original trilogy.
While promoting his most recent film The Creator, Edwards spoke with ComicBook.com, about his experience working on a Star Wars film. When asked whether he would return to direct another film in the space opera franchise, Edwards stated:
I like franchises, obviously, or else I wouldn’t have done two of them. So there are things that I would still love to do in that arena.
However, Edwards added that while he was interested in returning to franchise filmmaking, he would like to do things his way.
The Godzilla director explained that franchise films all felt similar in nature and he wanted to use his own methodology to leave his stamp on an established IP.
Here’s the franchise, but go off and do it how you do things. That would be probably one of the best-case scenarios, I reckon.
Edwards made the above statement explaining his condition for potentially returning to direct another franchise film. As a result, Edwards’ comments imply that he would be open to making another Star Wars movie if he were given free rein during production to realize his vision.
Gareth Edwards Addresses Rumors of Being Replaced During Rogue One Reshoots
During a separate interview with Variety, Edwards also spoke about the rumors that he was replaced as director by Lucasfilm during the reshoots of Rogue One. According to reports, writer Tony Gilroy had taken over directing responsibilities for the reshoots.
Look, the only thing I can say is I was incredibly lucky. I got to make a Star Wars film.
Edwards made the above statement regarding his alleged replacement during reshoots. The director remained grateful for the experience and insisted that calling it anything less than amazing would be a disservice to the final product.
In a separate interview, Edwards squashed the rumors of him being replaced by stating that he and Gilroy worked together until the last minute of the movie. As a result, the end product turned out to be nothing short of mesmerizing and it even received praise from George Lucas.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is streaming on Disney+.
