Recommended music: Garbage – I Think I’m Paranoid
On this #StarWarsSaturday, we’re looking ahead to the 10th anniversary of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in December and checking out trading cards from Topps Star Wars Rogue One: Mission Briefing. Today, I’m sharing base card number 101 – Jyn Erso!
Since my action figures are still packed away, waiting for a new display, the cards keep coming out to play.
Topps released the Rogue One: Mission Briefing trading card set in September 2016 to build excitement for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The main set has 100 cards that cover stories from Episodes I to VI and the animated series from that era, including the creation and destruction of the Death Star. There are also 10 cards featuring characters and scenes from the official Rogue One Teaser Trailer, released in April 2016.
In summer 2016, after the first teaser trailer and a big media push from Entertainment Weekly and Star Wars Celebration Europe, fans finally got detailed information about Jyn Erso before Rogue One came out. Felicity Jones played Jyn, shown as a street-smart, impulsive, skeptical survivor who had been on her own since she was fifteen. When the Rebel Alliance rescued her from Imperial custody, Mon Mothma listed her many crimes, like forging Imperial documents, having stolen property, aggravated assault, and resisting arrest. At this point, Jyn was shown as a loner with no ties to the Empire or the Rebellion, and she agreed to help the Rebels mostly to reduce her sentences.
Her family connections were a big part of her character reveal that summer. Fans learned her father was Galen Erso, played by Mads Mikkelsen, a brilliant scientist described as the galaxy’s version of Oppenheimer who was forced by the Empire to finish the Death Star’s superweapon. The story also showed a long history between her family and Director Orson Krennic, the Imperial officer in charge of building the battle station. Plus, Clone Wars veteran Saw Gerrera was revealed as a close friend of the Erso family who took Jyn in, taught her, and trained her to fight after her parents were taken. Fans of the Clone Wars animated series were happy to see at least one character make the jump to live-action, since Mon Mothma was the only other familiar face in the teaser trailer.
Because of Jyn’s unique personal connections, the Rebel Alliance asked her to help find her father and Saw Gerrera. This mission set the film’s core plot in motion, positioning Jyn to evolve from a reluctant, self-interested outcast into the determined leader who rallies a band of rogue fighters to steal the Death Star plans. Though many clips from this initial preview didn’t make it into the final movie, Jyn’s story had a strong arc by the time we saw her in theaters that December.
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