Summary
- The iconic opening crawl in Star Wars movies could potentially fix continuity mistakes in the franchise's canon stories, adding depth and coherence to the overall narrative.
- The inclusion of the opening crawl as "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…" positions Star Wars as a fantasy franchise based on existing, ancient legends, allowing for different interpretations of the events depicted.
- By viewing every Star Wars story as an interpretation of events from another galaxy in ancient history, continuity problems within the canon can be explained and embraced as different perceptions of the same evenets, offering fans more storytelling freedom and a fresh perspective on the saga.
Despite being a now-iconic footnote in cinema history, Star Wars' opening crawl could have an even bigger impact by fixing all continuity mistakes found in the franchise's canon stories. Since 1977, every mainline Star Wars movie has featured its own opening crawl. This is set to continue with upcoming Star Wars movies, with Kathleen Kennedy confirming at Star Wars Celebration 2023 that the opening crawl will return after being absent from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Rogue One and Solo included the opening text of "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…" yet did not have the following opening crawl.
When watching the Star Wars movies in order, the lack of an opening crawl in Rogue One and Solo is somewhat jarring. While it makes sense to keep opening crawls limited to only the mainline, Skywalker Saga movies, the concept has become such an iconic part of the franchise that feature film projects feel almost incomplete without one. On top of the crawl's evidently iconic nature, the feature could actually have a hidden purpose. When looking at the opening crawl's words through a different interpretation, George Lucas' legendary words could actually fix persisting problems with continuity in modern Star Wars canon.
