Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and Edge of Tomorrow screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie “saved” Rogue One: A Star Wars Story , according to sources speaking with Birth. Movies. Death. McQuarrie has been brought in to patch up weak screenplays before, including World War Z . But while it may not have worked out that time, McQuarrie’s history with action, heist and sci-fi movies should serve him well in patching up whatever problems Rogue One is facing in production.

'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' Screenwriters

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is about the early Rebel Alliance mission to steal the plans for the first Death Star in the years before the original Star Wars . If his previous movie, Godzilla , is anything to go on, then director Gareth Edwards is fantastic at keeping big, dumb sci-fi ideas grounded. Unfortunately, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story seems to be suffering the same script problems as Godzilla (no one cares about your family Aaron Taylor-Johnson!).

The shooting script for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is by Chris Weitz , who wrote Cinderella for Disney but has no real history of writing Star Wars­ -like action (his nearest project, The Golden Compass , was widely seen as a disaster).

McQuarrie, on the other hand, couldn’t be more appropriate for Rogue One . Famous after The Usual Suspects, McQuarrie went on to write Jack Reacher , Edge of Tomorrow , and is now the guiding vision behind the Mission: Impossible series (he wrote and directed Rogue Nation ).

If Rogue One: A Star Wars Story turns out half as well as Edge of Tomorrow than we’re all in for a good time come the Dec. 16 Rogue One release date .