Ever since last weekend's festivities for Star Wars Celebration gave us that sweet sizzle reel showcasing the magic that's going into Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the questions have just kept piling up. For instance, what is this new tropical land that we've seen in various bits of footage? Well, if our hunch is correct, it may be Jedah - which is also shaping up to be the homeland of the Jedi religion.
The news comes from director Gareth Edwards himself, as he sat down with a panel of journalists that included our man on the ground, Sean O'Connnell. In this special session, Edwards revealed the following tidbit about this brand new planet and its significance to the Jedi Order:
For me, if A New Hope is kind of like the story of Jesus, or something, there must be a whole religion beyond that. For a thousand generations the Jedi were these leaders of the spiritual belief system. So there's gotta be the equivalent of Mecca and Jerusalem in the Star Wars world.
Seeing as The Force is the Star Wars equivalent of religion, the existence of a sacred site that lends itself to pilgrimage is not only an element that fits right in with this sort of storytelling, it's something that's been long overdue in the universe's canon. Sure, we saw the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, but that really always felt like The Vatican. It's a sacred site where everything is operated out of, but it's not the site of its origins. Actually getting to see this site in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is meant to not only ground the spin-off story in the ways of The Force, despite the perceived "disappearance" of the Jedi, but also to flesh out the backstory of the universe in a new and exciting way.
As if to drive the point home a little harder, Gareth Edwards sealed the deal with this follow-up remark:
...If you believe in the Jedi and you believe in the Force, it feels like Jedah is a place you should visit in your lifetime. It's a spiritual home of the Jedi.
How Jedah fits into Rogue One: A Star Wars Story's ultimate structure is yet to be seen. However, it was also mentioned that Chirrut Imwe, the blind monk on the team that Felicity Jones' Jyn Erso puts together to steal the Death Star plans, is not only a follower of the Jedi religion, he was also born on Jedah. All of this goes to show that while we feel closer than ever to discovering the secrets of Gareth Edwards' foray into that galaxy far, far away, there's so much more that we have left to learn.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story steals history on December 16th.
