Disney has revealed the first Star Wars: Rogue One concept art to its shareholders… and a description of the piece may give us some clues about the movie.
Unveiled to a select audience during last week’s Disney shareholders meeting, the first piece of Star Wars: Rogue One concept art has been revealed. But with a ‘no electronics’ policy, it looks as though we won’t be seeing the image just yet.
Thankfully, some of those present were happy to describe what they saw…
Note: The image in this article is for illustrative purposes only. Disney has not made Rogue One concept art public.
“Dozens of figures in fatigues appeared to be storming something with a strange helicopterish vehicle (open on the sides) in the background, releasing more troops,” said /Film’s source.
But it seems they also got some far more detailed descriptions from several others.
“The concept art was a gritty ‘dark/gray image’,” they said. “‘Very dark and done in greens, so it evoked the idea that it was being done under the cloak of night’. The art showed 4-5 armored, soldier-like persons on the ground, ‘with two to three ships in the background’. Disney blogger/investor StitchKingdom says that the imagery ‘evoked concept art of a video game’ and it ‘screamed Halo to me’.”
“[The ships] ‘seemed a bit bigger than X-Wings… more like a transport ship of sorts’ but probably not as big as the Tantive IV (the transport ship we see Darth Vader board at the beginning of A New Hope). The characters were all ‘generic’ looking ‘wearing the same dark outfit… I didn’t see anything that would distinguish them as individuals.”
Of course, it sounds much like some of the iconic battles seen throughout the Star Wars universe… But LA Times journalist Daniel Miller has cast doubt on whether they look more like Rebel soldiers or Bounty Hunters.
“Neither,” he said. “They were masked but not whimsical looking like those bounty hunters.”
Obviously, Miller has cast doubt on exactly what is depicted in that concept art. And I can’t help thinking that perhaps the lack of orange Rebel outfits might hint at a far earlier time in Star Wars history.
Could Rogue One show the rise of the Rebellion?
Either way, there’s one surprising detail about this concept art – it didn’t depict any of those iconic X-Wings. And with a title like Rogue One, that’s incredibly surprising.
After all, many think that ‘Rogue One’ likely refers to the leader of Rogue Squadron – the elite starfighter unit of the Rebel Alliance.
But could the movie show us how a band of rebels came together to form the legendary squadron?
I’m not so sure. Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles originally formed Rogue Squadron after the original trilogy Jedi joined the rebellion. But this could be the kind of retcon that Disney is happy to make in light of scrapping the Expanded Universe.
On the other hand, this concept art does seem to go hand-in-hand with another rumour – that ‘Star Wars: Rogue One’ will depict a band of mercenaries during a daring raid… to steal the plans of the original Death Star.
According to /Film, sources suggest that the film will follow the Rebel’s efforts to acquire those Death Star plans – the event that triggers the entire original Star Wars trilogy. And it all comes down to a band of plucky mercenaries.
Whether or not this is what Rogue One is all about remains to be seen… but one thing’s for certain – there’s now plenty of interest in the all-new ‘Star Wars’ spin-off.
Star Wars: Rogue One heads to cinemas on 16 December 2016.
Are you looking forward to Star Wars: Rogue One? Will we get to see that concept art soon enough? Let us know what you think in the comments below…
