We’ve only got 113 days until Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits cinemas (keep count with this handy timer), but we don’t have to wait any longer to find out what that mysterious ‘Rogue One’ in the title actually means.

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Speaking in the latest issue of Empire, director Gareth Edwards explained the title of the first stand-alone Star Wars anthology film: while "Rogue One is a military call sign to some extent," it’s also the first Star Wars movie "that's gone off-piste and is not part of the saga – or the Anakin story – so it's the 'rogue' one."

Fortunately, there’s more to the title than that extremely slightly one-dimensional meaning. Edwards (who’s previous films include 2014’s Godzilla) also highlighted Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) has a rogue streak in her: “[The title is] kind of describing her as well in a similar way… It has [all] these split, multiple meanings that made it feel like the right choice."

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Could it really be that simple? We'll have to wait until December 16th to find out.

Authors

Thomas LingDigital editor, BBC Science Focus

Thomas is Digital editor at BBC Science Focus. Writing about everything from cosmology to anthropology, he specialises in the latest psychology, health and neuroscience discoveries. Thomas has a Masters degree (distinction) in Magazine Journalism from the University of Sheffield and has written for Men’s Health, Vice and Radio Times. He has been shortlisted as the New Digital Talent of the Year at the national magazine Professional Publishers Association (PPA) awards. Also working in academia, Thomas has lectured on the topic of journalism to undergraduate and postgraduate students at The University of Sheffield.

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