Star Wars Continues Tradition of Director Cameos in 'Rogue One'

As Star Wars Celebration Europe wraps up, new details of future projects have trickled out from London. New details regarding the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue One and Star Wars: Episode VIII have already made rounds from current Star Wars directors Gareth Edwards (Rogue One), Rian Johnson (Episode VIII), Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (the upcoming Han Solo spinoff). But amidst the trailers and the plot hints of the upcoming films, there wasn’t much mention of how the list of director cameos in the Star Wars universe will increase.

Famous directors have been making cameos in Star Wars since A New Hope featured future Captain America: The First Avenger director Joe Johnston as a stormtrooper. Since then, famous fans like Star Wars designer Ralph McQuarrie to director Sophia Coppola have made cameos in various Star Wars films. Even George Lucas himself made a cameo in Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith as alien baron Papanoida.

Now the tradition of directors appearing in Star Wars continues with the official Twitter account for the franchise confirming that Rogue One director, Gareth Edwards, will be in Episode VIII. The favor is returned by Episode VIII director Rian Johnson making a cameo in Rogue One as a Death Star operator. Even Lord and Miller were supposed to make Rogue One cameos, but had to cancel their appearances at the last moment despite appearing in full costumes. Luckily they slipped into Episode VIII with little trouble. It seems only J.J. Abrams has been left out of the fun the new Star Wars directors have been partaking in. Luckily for him, there’s his playable character in Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens.