Rogue One: Death Odds For Jyn Erso And All The Rest

Rogue One is just a few short days away, and while most Star Wars films generally have a low body count among main characters, Rogue One looks likely to change that up.

Rogue One’s unique setting, sandwiched in between the prequel and original trilogies, should have Star Wars fans very, very worried. None of the new characters in Rogue One appear in any of the films set after this, which certainly can’t bode well for this batch of rebelling rebels.

Our odds are based on feelings, intuition, and in some cases flat out guesses. No spoilers were used from any source, only the currently trailers and TV spots. Our one tidbit of spoilery information has been the general rumor since production began that Rogue One would be a darker film compared to other Star Wars, and once again that can’t be good news. So without further ado, we give you the death odds for each of the ten main characters in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

BELOW ARE THE ODDS EACH CHARACTER BECOMES ONE WITH THE FORCE IN ROGUE ONE.

Image Credit: Lucasfilm

Baze Malbus: 90%

Look at that dirty, combat worn face? Does that look the face of someone who survives? Malbus has the gritty look of a man who will easily sacrifice himself for the sake of his friends and comrades, and we know our fearless group of Rebels will be facing rather long odds in their quest to secure the Death Star plans for Luke Skywalker and the gang.

In the trailers we’ve seen Malbus’ tight connection to fellow Rebel Chirrut Îmwe, so Malbus sacrificing himself in defense of his friend seems likely. Taking on an AT-AT walker with some sort of bazooka hardly seems healthy either. Sorry Malbus, it was nice getting to know you.

Image Credit: Lucasfilm

Chirrut Îmwe: 85%

With respect to those that are blind and the great things one can accomplish despite lacking eyesight, blindness is not exactly a recipe for a long life when one jumps from one war zone to another. We know from the trailers that Baze Malbus is always looking out for his friend, but if Malbus goes down, we can’t imagine Chirrut survives his friend for very long.

Chirrut does appear to be a more than capable warrior, and while we would love to see the absolutely magnetic Donnie Yen somehow appear in Star Wars films for the rest of our lives, we just can’t see Chirrut surviving. Chirrut has a strong spiritual connection to the Force, so don’t expect the blind warrior to face his death with anything but acceptance. The audience, on the other hand, might not be so ready for Chirrut to become one with the Force.

Image Credit: Lucasfilm

Bodhi Rook: 30%

Rook appears to be the main pilot for our lovely band of misfits, ferrying them to and fro as they attempt to steal the plans for the Death Star. And as you can see from the uniform above, Rook was formerly a pilot for the Empire, which might explain his presence among the crew. Having a former Imperial pilot around as you try to steal plans from the Empire might prove useful no?

And unlike some of the other members of the crew, Rook could easily survive the mission and fade into the numerous ranks of pilots who support the Rebellion in the Original Trilogy. Unlike some of the front line warriors like Baze or Chirrut, Rook’s absence from the future films could easily be explained as being reassigned somewhere within the Rebellion fleet. For that reason, we say Rook has a strong chance of surviving.

Saw Gerrera: 75%

This one was a tough one. On the one hand, Forest Whitaker is hands down one of the greatest actors on this or any planet in the galaxy. Whitaker’s impassioned speech about “saving the dream” literally gives us goose bumps every time we hear it. On the other hand, Whitaker’s character, Saw Gerrera is being held together by robot prosthetics.

Gerrera is a veteran of his planet Onderon’s own rebellion, as detailed in the Star Wars: Rebels animated series, and while inspiring, does not strike us as entirely healthy considering he uses a cane to move around. Gerrera’s direct involvement in the mission remains unknown, and if Gerrera remains on the sidelines as some sort of adviser, his odds of survival rise significantly, but we continue to think the body count will be large in Rogue One, and sadly that Gerrera will be among them. We just can’t see this old rebel sitting on the sidelines while others are fighting. And queue the tears.

Cassian Andor: 80%

And the depression continues. Andor looks to be our secondary hero after Jyn Erso, this one has the potential to hurt, a lot. Andor’s role initially seems to be a bit of a babysitter to the wildly erratic Jyn Erso, but the pair seems to develop a bit of a rapport as the movie (at least from what we can tell from the trailers.)

Andor might appear to be relatively safe, what with the giant K-2SO following him around, but that didn’t help Han Solo in The Force Awakens. Too soon? Either way, Andor seems rather high up in the Alliance chain of command, especially considering he’s given the critical job of keeping an eye on Jyn. And if that’s true, Andor’s absence from subsequent movies is hard to explain.

Sure, as an intelligence officer Andor’s absence could be explained away in later movies as Andor being on some top secret mission or such nonsense, but our bet is that Andor meets his demise on the mission, perhaps at the hands of our next character.

Darth Vader: -1000%

OK yeah, Darth Vader isn’t dying in Rogue One. We know Vader meets his demise in The Return of the Jedi. But, AS it seems likely that Vader might send more than a few of the Rogue One crew to their graves, it felt appropriate to include the fallen Jedi. The level of Vader’s involvement is still somewhat unclear, but there have been rumors of a scene involving Vader wrecking shop on a group Rebels. Ouch.

Image Credit: Lucasfilm

K-2SO: 50%

But wait you say, Cassian Andor’s odds are resting at 80%. How could the loyal and faithful bodyguard survive his master’s death? Once more, we point to Han Solo and Chewbacca, and Han’s demise in The Force Awakens while the Wookiee survived.

Making K-2SO’s survival even more plausible, is the fact that K-2SO is you know, a droid. Things that might kill his master Cassian Andor, like say a lightsaber removing an arm and or a leg or two, wound only be temporary wounds for a droid.

Regardless of any wounds, should K-2SO survive in any shape or form, the droid’s memory could simply be wiped, and off he goes to serve some other purpose with very little explanation needed. Or the droid could get smashed under the foot of an AT-AT Walker. Like we said, it’s 50/50.

Image Credit: Lucasfilm

Galen Erso: 70%

Galen appears to be the architect of the Death Star, and thus perhaps Rogue One’s most pivotal character? But does Jyn’s father survive his involvement with the Empire? Is his survival tied to Jyn’s? Oh, the questions we have!

After building the Death Star for the Empire our gut tells us, Galen will be summarily eliminated by either Krennic or Vader himself. Why would you let this guy wander the galaxy after creating your superweapon? You wouldn’t want your enemies getting a hold of him, and spilling all of its secrets. They might find a weakness. Oh wait, sorry getting off track.

If Galen does end up surviving the movie, we will say that Jyn survives as well, and the pair retires to some backwater planet. But again, we are pretty certain the Empire will execute Galen once they have want they want. Sorry old man, maybe you shouldn’t get involved with the genocidal maniacs next time. The real question might be how many Stormtroopers will it take to execute him if none of them can shoot?

Image Credit: Lucasfilm

Orson Krennic: 90%

And now, we reach someone the audience might actually want to perish in Rogue One. Krennic, the Director of the Advanced Weapons Research for the Imperial military, is responsible for bringing the Death Star to life, and also appears to kidnap Galen Erso, leaving Jyn an orphan from a young age. So yeah, not exactly someone we will be cheering for.

Krennic’s death might come at a rather unexpected hand, however. We’ve seen shots of Krennic and Darth Vader interacting in the trailers, and there appears to be a bit of a rivalry. Krennic might be a the “Death Star is now the ultimate power in the galaxy” type guy, and we know how Vader feels about those guys. But still, Vader would hardly execute someone over an ideological disagreement, `would he?

While we do see Vader being the one to execute Krennic, it seems far more likely that Vader will do so after Jyn and crew manage to obtain the plans for the Death Star. Vader isn’t the kind of guy to let such a failure stand, and thus Krennic might find himself gasping for air before the movie ends.

Image Credit: Lucasfilm

Jyn Erso: 50%

The million dollar question. Will our heroine, the main character of the first Star Wars standalone film survive the movie? Racking a body count consisting of secondary and unnamed characters is one thing, but do Lucasfilm and Disney have the guts to kill off the character they have built the movie around? It’s hard to tell.

On the one hand, someone who pulled off the heist of the Death Star plans would likely hold a large role in the fledgling Alliance going forward, and yet we have no mention of Jyn in the Original Trilogy. Wouldn’t we see Jyn in that conference room on Home One in Return of the Jedi? (And if you suggest we digitally insert her into some sort of special edition, let yourself out the nearest airlock.) These are strong clues as to Jyn’s demise.

And yet, on the other hand, we suggested that Jyn might retire to a quiet corner of the galaxy after all is said and done. If her father Galen perishes, along with a large part of her crew, it’s not a stretch to think Jyn might have enough with empires and rebellions and leave the galaxy behind. And that’s our best guess. A traumatized and jaded Jyn retires to some Dagobah-like planet, content to live out her life in quiet solitude. It’s also our best hope. And rebellions are built on hope.

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We want to hear from you: What do you think of our death odds for the characters in Rogue One? Who do you think lives or dies in the film? Let us know in the comments below and on social media.

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