9 years after the Star Wars prequel hit theaters, director Gareth Edwards reflects on Rogue One's legacy in the wake of Andor season 2: "I'm just eternally relieved that I don't walk across the street and people shout that I ruined their childhood"

Director Gareth Edwards may be tackling on-screen dinosaurs for the first time with Jurassic World Rebirth, but he's no stranger to legacy franchises.

He also directed Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which is having somewhat of a renaissance thanks to Disney Plus prequel series Andor. The TV show, which recently came to an end with Andor season 2, fills in the backstory of Diego Luna's rebel intelligence officer Cassian Andor and, according to cast members and fans alike, helps view the movie in a new light.

"I mean, I'm just eternally relieved that I don't walk across the street and people don't shout that I ruined their childhood," Edwards tells GamesRadar+ when we ask him how he feels about Rogue One's enduring legacy. "It's a bit like [Jurassic World Rebirth]. I hate the word 'franchise', really, and 'IP'. It sort of diminishes... Like, to me, these movies were sort of semi-religious experiences as a kid, watching them, and so they mean a lot."

Rogue One was released almost a decade ago, hitting theaters in 2016, but it's still held in high regard by both critics and Star Wars fans. Edwards thinks it's important to play the long game as a filmmaker, and cites John Carpenter's now-classic sci-fi horror movie The Thing as a moviemaking example to learn from.

"I've always felt – and I don't hold any of my films in high regard like this – but I do think that, really, the test of a movie is how it's viewed, 10, 20 years later," he continues. "Obviously, there's this anticipation with what everyone's going to think when a film comes out. But really, you would always take the... I look at a lot of my heroes, and they would tell stories, and it seems unbelievable, like I was reading the other day about John Carpenter and The Thing, and how it flopped, and how he couldn't work for a while, and things like this.

"And you go, 'What, after The Thing?' Like, that's a masterpiece. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever, but he obviously rode that roller coaster a little bit. And so it teaches you as a filmmaker, don't ride the roller coaster, play the long-term game. It's all about how people feel towards the end of your career, really, and so just hold on to that."

Jurassic World Rebirth arrives in theaters on July 2. In the meantime, get up to speed with our guide to the other biggest movie release dates in 2025.