Fifth Avenue Forum

It turns out, Death Star blueprints changed hands during a pivotal, clandestine series of events that unfolded sometime at the end of the Clone Wars, according to a new excerpt from the Rogue One prequel novel Catalyst, that just appeared in USA Today. It’s all very cloak-and-dagger, but here’s what happens: A young Orson Krennic busts Galen Erso out of some kind of prison, reunites him with his wife Lyra and daughter Jyn, and then has a shady datapad exchange with someone named Chieftain Gruppe on the planet Vallt. From the excerpt:

Krennic opened his jacket and pulled out a datapad, calling Gruppe’s attention to something on the display screen, “Satisfied?” Gruppe nodded and Krennic handed the datapad to the chieftain. “Yours to keep.”

Here’s what it seems like might have happened: At this point in time, Krennic seems to be a military official for the Republic, and he’s commanding units against the Separatists. But, even at this stage, it seems like he’s a covert operative, probably working directly for Palpatine. As we know in Attack of the Clones, the Separatists — specifically Count Dooku — had the Death Star Plans at that point.

And while everyone might have previously assumed that Dooku just gave the plans to Palpatine/Darth Sidious at the start of the Clone Wars, that probably isn’t what happened, mostly because it’s too simple. Everything about the Clone Wars was designed to look a certain way, while accomplishing more sinister goals. In Attack of the Clones, Dooku says that their primary concern is that the Jedi not discover their “ultimate weapon.” The distinction here is this: Dooku knows that the Separatists and Republic war is artificial, that essentially there is only one side: the eventual rise of the Empire.

Mandalorian is a staggered release. Only one episode now and then the 15th and Fridays afterward.

It appears that Disney plus has the original trilogy in 4k HDR! (97 special edition)