Details have been scarce for the first Star Wars spinoff “Rogue One”. Since we still don’t know a whole lot about “The Force Awakens”, we weren’t expecting to hear much from this year’s Star Wars Celebration. We were thankfully wrong.
A band of resistance fighters unite for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans in Star Wars anthology film, Rogue One #RogueOne.
— Star Wars (@starwars) April 19, 2015
This was revealed during a panel at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, CA today along with a teaser showing a TIE fighter soaring over a jungle planet with the Death Star in the background to the tune of Alec Guinness’ line from Episode IV (“For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times… before the Empire”). The teaser has not been officially released online and it was not discussed if it ever will.
“Rogue One” director Gareth Edwards (“Godzilla”) was there at the panel and clarified that the film takes place between Episodes III and IV, but closer to IV. “It comes down to a group of individuals who don’t have magical powers that have to somehow bring hope to the galaxy,” said Edwards.
Concept art of a bunch of rebels charging on the ground was shown. Felicity Jones’ character in the film will also be a rebel soldier.
Also talked about at the panel was how the Star Wars spinoffs will be referred to as “Anthology” films.
StarWars.com has a liveblog of the event that includes quotes from Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm VP of development and member of the Story Group, Kiri Hart, John Knoll of ILM (who came up with the story idea), and more.
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” hits US cinemas on December 17, 2015 with “Rogue One” set for December 16, 2016.
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