The official trailer for the movie ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ was released on April 7 2016.
This story is set just before the events of ‘A New Hope’. The Rebels need to steal the plans for the Death Star. These are the plans that Leia stores with R2D2. Who did Leia get them from?
The film is due for release in December 2016. It stars Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything); Diego Luna (Milk, Elysium); Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline, Mississippi Grind); Donnie Yen (Ip Man, Blade II); Jiang Wen, (Let the Bullets Fly, Devils on the Doorstep); Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland); Mads Mikkelsen (The Hunt, Casino Royale, also in Dr Strange this year); Alan Tudyk (currently in American Dad, among other TV and film roles, plays a performance-capture character in Rogue One); and Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler, Four Lions).
Jones’ character Jyn Erso is a young, rebellious woman, somewhat similar to Rey, whom we met in ‘The Force Awakens’. She has been alone in the world since she was 15, and has come to the attention of powerful people, not necessarily for good reasons.
Jyn Erso
(Felicity Jones) Image from ©Lucasfilm LFL
Before she embarks on a dangerous journey to steal the Death Star plans for the Rebellion, she perhaps summarises her attitude best in this trailer (1:57): “This is a rebellion isn’t it? I rebel.”
A Lucasfilm/ Disney Studios production, ‘Rogue One’ is Directed by Gareth Edwards, with a screenplay by Chris Weiz from a story by John Knoll and Gary Whitta, and characters credited to George Lucas. This movie fits with the others of the Star Wars franchise, in ‘look and feel’ retaining the style and humour, as well as the sets and effects. Many will recognise the AT-ATs, and some will identify the black-armoured Stormtroopers as Shadowtroopers.
Shadowtrooper, ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ Image from ©Lucasfilm LFL
There has been some jubilation ‘around the internet’ that this is a(nother?) female-centred Star Wars movie, and that this restores the balance of the gender force. (Although, from the trailer, there are predominantly men involved in the rebellion. At least they’re not all white!) Personally, I love seeing strong female characters, and am pleased to have female inspiration. I don’t think it’s the only thing that this movie will give us, though.
Without knowing what’s actually in the movie, I’ll speculate that it might fill in some gaps in the Star Wars universe for film-watchers. (Extended Universe Novel readers may already know all about it?) Besides story continuity and depth of context (the characters we’ve seen so far haven’t been alone in battling the Dark Side), it’s another adventure in the Star Wars universe! What’s not to love about that? (Actually, remembering some of the responses to the prequel trilogy: don’t answer that!)
A few of the unsubstantiated rumours about this movie include that:
- Jyn Erso is Rey’s (from ‘The Force Awakens’) mother
- Hayden Christiansen appears in a cameo as Darth Vader
- There are no Jedi in this movie (does that mean no Force?)
- There are other ‘Star Wars Anthology’ stories which will join ‘Rogue One’ in being made into a movie in the near future
I think it’s safe to say, regardless of rumours, that there will be plenty of action, plenty of drama, and plenty of character development. As Forest Whitaker says: “What will you do if they catch you?…If you keep fighting…what will you become?”
‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ opens in cinemas on 16 December 2016 (USA, UK and Australia)
Other countries: December 14-16: Full list of release dates
I, for one, will be watching Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. How about you?
You can read more news about Rogue One, direct from Lucasfilm
(The Star Wars social media accounts are also linked at the bottom of that page).
Featured Image: Star Wars: Rogue One. Left to Right: Actors Riz Ahmed, Diego Luna, Felicity Jones, Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen. Photo Credit: Jonathan Olley ©Lucasfilm 2016
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