There’s very little that can be nitpicked about Rogue One, a film that sits increasingly high in the lists and affections of Star Wars fans. However, the beauty of such a neatly constructed film is the questions it rolls out, allowing us to chew over these thoughts like it’s 2006 and we’re all enjoying friendly discourse on the old Star Wars Blogs. A recent IGN screening of Rogue One with writers Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz brought up one such question – how come we saw the newly created Admiral Raddus and not the venerable Admiral Ackbar lead the assault on Scarif?
During a live-streamed watch-along of Rogue One on CineFix (via YouTube), writers Chris Weitz and Gary Whitta discussed their work on the film through live commentary and Q&A with viewers. In the latter half of the film, the conversation inevitably turned to the character of Admiral Raddus, who is clearly a substitute for Admiral Ackbar. They revealed the role was initially written for Ackbar, but director Gareth Edwards ultimately wanted to include more original characters for Rogue One; thus, Raddus was born.
Rogue One features many original characters, but also numerous cameos and supporting roles for long-time franchise veterans. Icons like Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin appear, as well as Mon Mothma and Bail Organa, among others, including some cameos that make use of footage from the 1977 original to allow fighter pilots from the raid on the Death Star to fight in the climactic Battle of Scarif. It’s an incredible mix of technology and storytelling, the likes of which have seldom been matched in other movies. Nevertheless, it makes sense why Gareth Edwards would want to include more original characters, to put more of his stamp on his particular corner of the Star Wars universe.