A heist, the Death Star and Peter Cushing.
[toggler title=”TL;DR” ]Rogue One will take place before A New Hope and will focus on a heist, which see’s a group of rebels attempt to gain the Death Star Plans Princess Leia had in Episode IV. Most of the cast have been revealed but no characters names have been released so far. It’s very likely the film will take place in Geonosis, and Peter Cushing is rumoured to be digitally included as Grand Moff Tarkin. [/toggler]
[dropcap size=small]W[/dropcap]ith The Force Awakens taking most of the limelight at the moment, it’s easy to forget we have another big Star Wars film to look forward to – the prequel spin-off movie, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Given that the film is now just under a year away, and is already in the post-production stages of completion, just what do we actually know about the upcoming spin-off so far?
Well, this will be the first installment in the planned anthology series, and in terms of where this movie will be in the timeline of Star Wars, we know that it will take place before A New Hope.
The film will be centred around a heist, which will involve a team of rebels who go about trying to acquire the Death Star plans Princess Leia had in her possession in Episode IV.
We also know that the team of rebels will be fronted by The Theory of Everything star, Felicity Jones.
Other famous names include Alan Tudyk, Mads Mikkelsen, Forest Whistaker, Diego Luna, Jonathan Aris, Riz Ahmed, Wen Jiang and Donnie Yen.
There is also a rumour that the late Peter Cushing is expected to be digitally added to the cast to appear as Grand Moff Tarkin once more.
So far however, no character names have been revealed at all, so we don’t know who’s batting for which side, or how their roles will come into the play.
We can only go off the one cast photo we’ve been given so far, which sees Riz Ahmed, Donnie Yen, Diego Luna and Wen Jiang, with Felicity Jones at the forefront of the group – they certainly look like a group of rebels out to gain those fiendish Death Star plans.
The upcoming spin-off will be directed by Gareth Edwards who’s known for the recent Godzilla re-make back in 2014, and writers John Knoll, Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz have tackled the story alongside George Lucas.
There have also been plenty of rumours surrounding the film, including the possibility of seeing bounty hunter Cad Bane of the Clone Wars television series make his movie debut.
Talk surrounding seeing Darth Vader make an appearance – which could mean the return of Hayden Christensen (sigh), and the voice of James Earl Jones – has also been making the rounds.
Given the focus of the film, theories have also been put forward that it’s very likely the film will take place in Geonosis, where the Death Star plans originated.
We first see Geonosis in Attack of the Clones, in which the first battle of the Clone Wars takes place. The planet once housed droid factories for the Separatist Alliance, but eventually fell victim to the Empire five years after the conclusion of the Clone Wars.
The Empire all but wiped out the majority of the population, and sterilized the planet after taking most of its minerals and resources. Then the planet meets an ill-fated end when it becomes the site where the Death Star gets constructed under Grand Moff Tarkin.
It would certainly makes sense for the film to take place in Geonosis, and given the rumours surrounding digitally including Cushing, it seems very likely indeed.
That’s about all we know about Rogue One for the time being. Let’s hope we get some more information soon!
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set to hit theatres 16 December, 2016.
