Rogue One, hitting theaters next week, is an experiment on the part of Lucasfilm to see if the Star Wars franchise can survive without having a Skywalker starring in a central role. When George Lucas announced that he would be returning to the Star Wars universe with 1999’s Episode I: The Phantom Menace, fans were ecstatic to finally learn how the galaxy got to the the first Star Wars film, 1977’s A New Hope. While The Phantom Menace was highly anticipated, hope vanished as soon as moviegoers left theaters.