Rogue One Accidentally Made One Surprising X-Wing Problem That Persists To This Day (2025)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a favorite of many Star Wars enthusiasts, but few noticed that it introduced one surprising problem with X-wings that persists to this very day. 2016's Rogue One was monumental for many reasons, but the biggest is that it was the triumphant return to the original trilogy era of Star Wars in live action. This brought so many things back, like X-wings, AT-ATs, Imperial stormtroopers, and more, all realized with modern technology.

In bringing those familiar elements back, some necessary changes had to be made by Industrial Light & Magic. Because all of these once-physical models had to be translated into computer-generated ones, some things were changed in terms of scale or modeling specifics. One change to the monumentally iconic X-wing starfighter, however, was a mistake – and it has persisted ever since 2016.

Rogue One Made One Subtle Change To The X-Wing Design

The Wings No Longer Interlock

Rogue One Accidentally Made One Surprising X-Wing Problem That Persists To This Day (1)

A post on X by user RgroseA points out that before the creation of a new X-wing model for Rogue One, the starfighter actually had much more asymmetrical wings. On the back of each wing, near the engine, there are protrusions on both the top and bottom wing. When the starfighter's S-foils open, these become immediately visible, clasping together like two teeth when the S-foils close.

The Rogue One model, however, features the same exact placement of this protrusion on both the top and bottom wing, making the design physically impossible. As pointed out by RgroseA in the same post on X, the practical props made for Rogue One didn't feature this issue, meaning it was likely a modeling oversight. Despite this, these models have continued to be used for years, making this physical issue now appear in The Mandalorian and beyond.

Will Star Wars Ever Move Back To The Original X-Wing?

New Ship Models Aren't Created As Frequently

It doesn't look like this issue will be fixed soon, either, as modern Star Wars projects have proven to us. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Andor in particular both show us that ILM loves to reuse its ship models – as seen in the Exegol Citizens' fleet and the Ferrix junkyard. In both of those settings, familiar ships from all over the modern Star Wars projects make appearances.

In reality, though, this change is incredibly minor, and will likely only be noticed by very few besides the most hardcore Star Wars enthusiasts. The reason behind this lack of change is likely because it's much cheaper and easier to reuse these highly detailed and beautiful models for future projects, especially for television. This entire concept, of course, is not unlike a modern version of the classic Star Wars tradition of reusing props from previous projects, Rogue One included.

Rogue One Accidentally Made One Surprising X-Wing Problem That Persists To This Day (3)

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

12+

Action

Sci-Fi

Adventure

Set in the weeks leading up to Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story provides additional context for the Rebellion's plan to destroy the Death Star. Rogue One follows Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) as she enlists the help of Rebel Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) to locate her father, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), after the Empire kidnaps him.

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Director
Gareth Edwards

Release Date
December 13, 2016
Studio(s)
Lucasfilm

Distributor(s)
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Writers
Tony Gilroy , Chris Weitz
Cast
Felicity Jones , Diego Luna , Ben Mendelsohn , Donnie Yen , Mads Mikkelsen , Alan Tudyk , Jiang Wen , Forest Whitaker

Runtime
134 Minutes
Franchise(s)
Star Wars
Sequel(s)
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope , Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back , Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi , Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens , Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi , Star Wars: Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker
prequel(s)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith , Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones , Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Budget
$200–265 million
Rogue One Accidentally Made One Surprising X-Wing Problem That Persists To This Day (2025)
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