So, maybe this is completely random or maybe I missed something. If you watch Empire Strikes Back, on the battle of Hoth, they reference Rogue Two. Was the title of Rogue One have any relation to this? Perhaps I have missed it. It was brought up at work today and I never thought about it. Was this 'prequel' title planned out a long time ago, did they analyze the movie and pick this up, or was it just pure luck?

Rogue was the squadron name, rogue 2 was just one of the pilots.

Rogue Squadron was first officially referenced in Empire Strikes Back. There was also a series of novels and comic books about Rogue Squadron in the Legends EU. Rogue Squadron has always been described in the books as having a long history and a reputation for taking on suicidal missions.

The writers of Rogue One probably just saw all the references to Rogue Squadron in the movies and EU and decided to include the origins of the "Rogue" call-sign as part of this new movie and call it "Rogue One".

I seriously, seriously doubt any of this was pre-planned that far ahead of time. Remember, when "A New Hope" was first made, it didn't even say "Episode IV" at the start, because no one knew yet whether it would just be one movie or a series.

Rogue Squadron was first officially referenced in Empire Strikes Back. There was also a series of novels and comic books about Rogue Squadron in the Legends EU. Rogue Squadron has always been described in the books as having a long history and a reputation for taking on suicidal missions.

The writers of Rogue One probably just saw all the references to Rogue Squadron in the movies and EU and decided to include the origins of the "Rogue" call-sign as part of this new movie and call it "Rogue One".

Rogue Squadron was never mentioned in any movie. Rogue Group was in ESB.

And the only other canon references to them are in two video games and one book and it remains to be seen how long those will remain unretconned canon.

A group is multiple squadrons, so there's space for everyone under the rogue umbrella. It's so big even imperial fighters get it, sorry that's the other game.

Rogue Squadron was an elite fighter group. I think the idea here is that this elite group began with the suicide mission to discover the death star plans. Rogue 1 callsign is the birth of Rogue Squadron as a concept within the rebellion.

My interpretation of Disney recanonization-

After destroying the death star red squadron remnants took on the callsign Rogue to honor the original Rogue 1.

...

I seriously, seriously doubt any of this was pre-planned that far ahead of time. Remember, when "A New Hope" was first made, it didn't even say "Episode IV" at the start, because no one knew yet whether it would just be one movie or a series.

Wait what?

*gets DVD*

YOU'RE RIGHT!

I thought I remembered seeing it on the VHS (pre-1997) when I first watched it and asking "Wait, why is it episode 4, where are the other episodes?" Did they add it to the VHS release? Or am I mis-remembering?

...

I seriously, seriously doubt any of this was pre-planned that far ahead of time. Remember, when "A New Hope" was first made, it didn't even say "Episode IV" at the start, because no one knew yet whether it would just be one movie or a series.

Wait what?

*gets DVD*

YOU'RE RIGHT!

I thought I remembered seeing it on the VHS (pre-1997) when I first watched it and asking "Wait, why is it episode 4, where are the other episodes?" Did they add it to the VHS release? Or am I mis-remembering?

They added it just before 'Empire Strikes Back' was released - by the time they were writing the second film, it had gained enough popularity that Lucas decided he wanted to firmly establish this as the middle part of a bigger story, and so 'Star Wars' became 'Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope' in order for the sequel to be 'Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back'.

(FWIW, reading the back-story on the first movie - Lucas always did intend it to be part of a larger story...but nobody really knew if it would work in theaters, or be a complete flop. And teasing an audience with what might have been a one-off film and calling it 'part 3' or 'part 5' or whatever ...ESPECIALLY if it flopped...would be seen as a bit presumptuous, which would double any negative reactions to it. So it was just released as 'Star Wars', with Lucas having in mind it being part of a larger story if it worked...but if not, it would just have remained 'Star Wars', and be the end of it.)