In director Tom Harper’s The Aeronauts, which is in limited release now before dropping on Amazon Prime later in the month, Felicity Jones plays a hot air balloon pilot who embarks on a death-defying mission. Of course it’s not the first time she has played a headstrong character with a dangerous assignment. The Oscar-nominated actress notably starred in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. While that film was only a standalone, Rogue One’s Felicity Jones would love to play Jyn Erso again. When asked about the possibility, she said:
I would love to. She's a tremendous character to play. I adored making the film. Maybe she can be reincarnated.
Although her character’s fate (see: vaporized) in Rogue One makes such a possibility unlikely (though not impossible), Felicity Jones would love the opportunity to play Jyn Erso again-- as she told Business Insider. Despite all of the reshoots and whatnot, the actress seems to have really had a great time making the first, and to date only successful, Star Wars anthology film and would be totally onboard for another go round.
Felicity Jones really liked the character of Jyn Erso and it seems that playing her was a very rewarding and enjoyable experience. So if the opportunity to revisit that came around, Felicity Jones wouldn’t say no. Of course the problem with that is that such an opportunity seems improbable given the fact that she perishes on Scarif at the end of Rogue One, with the suicide mission to obtain the Death Star plans proving to be just that.
Despite Jyn Erso having died completing her mission, Felicity Jones thinks suggests a possibility she could return. The actress proposes a possible reincarnation for the daughter of the J. Robert Oppenheimer of the galaxy far, far away. To date we’ve not really seen reincarnation as a part of the Star Wars universe, although the return of Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker may alter our perception of what’s possible.
So far in Star Wars, characters never come back to life, but they can return from death to the land of the living as Force Ghosts. Unfortunately for Jyn Erso, she was not a Force user, making this possibility unlikely.
However, Jyn Erso’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story counterpart Cassian Andor is coming back. Diego Luna will be reprising his role as the Rebel spy in an as-yet-untitled series on Disney+ set before the events of Rogue One. Now on the surface this might be an obvious place for Felicity Jones to get to play Jyn Erso again, but it wouldn’t really make sense.
When Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor meet in Rogue One, it’s for the first time. So seeing them go on missions together pre-Rogue One wouldn’t fit with existing continuity. However, the time period after her father Galen Erso’s capture might be fun to explore. We know that after Saw Gerrera rescued her, Jyn Erso was trained as a rebel fighter and child soldier in his army. Later when they abandoned her, she became a criminal.
This would be an interesting time period to explore but even wouldn’t really work in the Cassian Andor series if you jumped back and forth between his perspective and hers, because the two would never meet. Plus she's supposed to be much younger during that period.
Still, there is more to discover about Jyn Erso in the comics, books and other ancillary Star Wars materials. As for Felicity Jones, she’s got a pretty full plate film-wise, but maybe she could return to Star Wars as an alien at some point.
You can see Felicity Jones in The Aeronauts, in limited release now and dropping on Amazon Prime on December 20. Check out our 2020 Release Schedule to see what is headed to theaters next year.
