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Going Rogue. Star Wars spin-off may dump classic intro

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is due in cinemas on December 16
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is due in cinemas on December 16

The makers of the upcoming Star Wars spin-off Rogue One have said they're still debating whether the movie will feature the franchise's classic "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" opening crawl.

Speaking to ET Online, the website of US TV show Entertainment Tonight, at last weekend's Star Wars Celebration Europe event in London, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy said they were "in the midst" of discussing it. 

"But I don't think these films will have an opening crawl," she continued. "I think that's what we kind of telegraphed at the beginning of the event today."

Rogue One director Gareth Edwards and producer Kathleen Kennedy at Star Wars Celebration Europe

The Rogue One panel discussion at the Star Wars Celebration began with the opening crawl from the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope, and was followed by the Rogue One logo. 

Rogue One director Gareth Edwards also weighed in on whether the crawl will make an appearance. "I think basically there's a lot of things that I probably can't talk about, is probably the safest way to answer that," he said. "The idea is this film is supposed to be different than the saga films… The whole crawl of it all - it's funny people are fascinated on that."

Felicity Jones in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is due in cinemas on December 16 and is set before the events in the original Star Wars movie. It tells the story of a band of Rebel fighters tasked with stealing the plans for the Death Star and stars The Theory of Everything's Felicity Jones alongside Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, Hannibal's Mads Mikkelsen and Y tu mamá también's Diego Luna. 

Star Wars Celebration Europe also saw the official unveiling of Hail, Caesar! star Alden Ehrenreich as the young Han Solo. His spin-off movie is due in May 2018.

Alden Ehrenreich salutes the fans at Star Wars Celebration Europe

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