4) Rian Johnson Cameo
Speaking of directors, while Edwards was busy with Rogue One, Rian Johnson was working on the next mainline Star Wars movie, the still-untitled Episode VIII due out next December. Edwards felt the need to tip his hat to his successor in the director’s chair, as the Looper helmer turns up for a brief cameo in the movie.
Johnson and his producer Ram Bergman appear in the film as a couple of Death Star technicians in a key scene, and their roles were no accident…
“My producer Ram and I – we chose wisely,” Johnson explained, back at the Star Wars Celebration this summer. “We chose the two dudes that we knew would be in the movie. They can’t cut us out because we’re the two dudes in the firing chamber on the Death Star who pull the levers.”
In turn, Gareth Edwards was offered a role in Episode VIII. We also know that Edwards is hidden in Rogue One somewhere, as he’s admitted that he appears somewhere in the first scene of the movie. So far, though, no one has spotted him.