Star Wars: Rogue One will reveal a daring raid to steal the original Death Star plans… as confirmed by director Gareth Edwards.
During a special panel at Star Wars Celebration, the Star Wars spin-off director confirmed the rumours that ‘Rogue One’ would focus on those legendary Death Star plans.
According to Slashfilm, he revealed that “a rogue band of fighters come together to steal the Death Star plans.”
And it seems the folks at Lucasfilm have already released a small synopsis via Twitter.
But that’s not all… it seems the first teaser trailer was also unveiled.
That’s right – the first teaser trailer for Rogue One was unveiled during the live panel. And while it’s yet to appear online, the folks at Slashfilm have followed up with a full description.
“A card with ‘December 2016’ fades in and out, with a sound that is somewhere between a slow Inception horn and a lightsaber,” they explain. “Then a familiar voice: Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi, saying ‘For more than a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times… Before the Empire’.”
“As he speaks, the teaser fades in on a tracking shot, high up through a forested canyon. We hear a TIE Fighter pass overhead, and see the ship move forward into frame as the camera continues to push forward. We see, dominating the sky, the outline of what could be a moon. But that’s no moon, it’s a… well, you know what it is. The Death Star, under construction. Music swells and the screen goes black. The Rogue One logo comes up, and we hear radio voices, like troops communicating during combat. The chatter gets more frantic and loud as light strobes on the logo, which finally breaks up as the sound cuts out.”
Interesting stuff… but the panel event didn’t end there.
In fact, director Gareth Edwards had a lot to say about what we can expect from the film.
Firstly, he explained that Felicity Jones will be paying a Rebel Soldier. “We wanted to see fear, humor, and warmth” in the character, he said… and explained that they wanted to steer clear of the clichéd image of a warrior. And this is definitely a war movie. “It’s called Star Wars,” emphasised Edwards. This film is more about moral grey areas and the reality of war.
But when will it be set? Between Episode III and Episode IV — but closer to the time period of the original Star Wars movie.
It’s apparently set during a time when the Jedi are no longer around to save the day. “It’s about the fact that God’s not coming to save us,” said Edwards. “The absence of the Jedi hangs over the movie.” Will this be a far grittier representation of the titular Star Wars? It certainly looks that way… and with Greig Fraser (who shot ‘Zero Dark Thirty’) as the film’s cinematographer, it’s likely that the visuals are going to reflect that.
But make no mistake – this is still a Star Wars film… and Neal Scanlan signed on for creature design and effects, it looks as though we can expect the signature look and feel of the galaxy far, far away.
How will the film look, and will we get a glimpse at that teaser anytime soon? For now, we’ll have to wait and see… but it’s already looking rather promising.
Star Wars: Rogue One heads to cinemas on 16 December 2016.
What do you think of the Rogue One plot? Will the new trailer be revealed online? Let us know what you think in the comments below…
