Plot Details And Teaser Revealed For ‘Star Wars: Rogue One’

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Published

April 20, 2015

Lucasfilm is in Disney’s hands now, and they’re doing their absolute best to help you forget that the Star Wars prequel trilogy ever happened, easing you in to a new era of actually-pretty-great-looking films.

Last week, we got a new trailer for Star Wars: Episode VII -The Force Awakens, and over the weekend, at a fan convention, the studio revealed key plot details for Rogue One, the upcoming stand-alone Star Wars movie.

Rogue One is the first of three planned anthology films, and at the convention, director Gareth Edwards and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy revealed the details of its plot:

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

Some concept art was also revealed:

Rogue One concept art! pic.twitter.com/CGuLjz1IOC

— Bryan Bishop (@bcbishop) April 19, 2015

The first Star Wars film, released in 1977, featured a now-iconic opening text crawl, which read:

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Death Star, an armoured space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire’s sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy.

As has long been suspected, the story of Rogue One will cover that period in the immediate lead-up to the first film, and will theoretically open the door for characters like Darth Vader to appear.

British actress Felicity Jones, of The Theory Of Everything, is so far the only confirmed cast member. Per IMDB, Aussie actor Ben Mendhelsohn is also rumoured to appear.

Rogue One is not due for release until 2016, but a teaser, shown at the convention, recently surfaced online. It’s just some trees, a tie fighter and an old Alec Guinness voice-over, but by all means, knock yourself out: