STAR WARS ROGUE ONE Plot Details, Chronology, And More Revealed

The upcoming “Star Wars” standalone film, “Rogue One,” will follow a group trying to steal the Death Star plans, it was revealed at Sunday’s Star Wars Celebration, which also showed a special teaser for the upcoming spinoff.

“A band of resistance fighters unite for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans in Star Wars anthology film, Rogue One,” the official Star Wars account tweeted on Sunday.

Felicity Jones, who was previously confirmed to star in “Rogue One,” will play a rebel soldier. The film will take place before Episode IV.

The news was revealed at a panel with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm head of development Kiri Hart and “Rogue One” director Gareth Edwards. Josh Trank was scheduled to appear at the panel, but he didn’t show, with moderator Pablo Hidalgo saying he was “under the weather.”

The teaser took on war movie visuals, showing a TIE fighter flying above a forest planet before revealing the Death Star. The footage also featured shots of soldiers running through darkness.

“The Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic, before the dark times, before the Empire,” says a Obi-Wan Kenobi’s voiceover, as portrayed by Sir Alec Guinness in the teaser.

Gareth said “It’s called Star WARS,” and his crew is full of people who worked on war films like Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down and Zero Dark Thirty. In fact Creig Fraser, who shot Zero Dark Thirty, will shoot Rogue One.

“It comes down to a group of individuals that don’t have magic powers, that have to bring hope to the galaxy,” said Gareth.

Hart said the standalone movies are being called “anthology films” rather than spinoffs, varying in scale and genre, with new characters and places.

Perhaps because Trank wasn’t there, no information was released about the upcoming standalone film that he will direct.

“Star Wars: Rogue One” Rogue One starts shooting this summer, and is set to be released in December 2016, while the J.J. Abrams-directed “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” will hit theaters Dec. 18.

‘Star Wars’ Stand-alone Movie to Star Felicity Jones

After a series of hush-hush readings and tests, Lucasfilm and Disney have zeroed in on Oscar-nominated actress Felicity Jones for the female lead in the Star Wars stand-alone film.

Jones is now in talks to star in the project, which Gareth Edwards is directing and Chris Weitz — who was just hired last week — is writing. Weitz is replacing Gary Whitta, who penned the first draft.

Actresses were meeting, reading and testing last week in Los Angeles for the role, with Tatiana Maslany and Rooney Mara among those in the mix.

The secrecy surrounding the project is thicker than the mists of Dagobah, and it is even unclear which character the stand-alone is focusing on. Sources say that Aaron Paul and Edgar Ramirez are on the interest list for the male lead.

The movie has a release date of Dec. 16, 2016.

Jones is currently making the awards season rounds for The Theory of Everything, for which she snagged a best actress Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Jane Hawking, the first wife of physicist Stephen Hawking.

True Story, in which she stars with James Franco and Jonah Hill, just premiered at Sundance, and she is also shooting A Monster Calls, a family fantasy directed by J.A. Bayona that also stars Liam Neeson and Toby Kebbell.

Source: THR