Most Star Wars movies are modestly easy to define as “Space Opera” but Gareth Edwards had a different vision for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as he pitched it to Lucasfilm.
A huge part of what makes Rogue One exciting is the fact that it’s legitimately unique within the franchise and therefore comes with a new set of expectations.
If it’s not already doing so, it should inspire the future Star Wars Stories to take the exact same path.
The blockbuster obviously has plenty of the hallmark space battles and aliens, but it’s also clearly emphasizing “Wars” over the “Star” part of the brand name, and just from an aesthetic perspective is completely different than what George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Richard Marquand, or J.J. Abrams delivered before.