While Disney and Lucasfilm are busy locking the pieces in place for the Star Wars trilogy that J.J. Abrams is launching with The Force Awakens, including hiring Colin Trevorrow to direct 2019’s Episode IX, the Anthology films are carving out their own little niche. Case in point: Gareth Edwards’ Star Wars: Rogue One just dropped this stunning cast photo at D23… as well as a mess of new details on the upcoming movie:
Pictured in this first-look photo at Star Wars: Rogue One are Felicity Jones (front and center), flanked by Diego Luna, Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen, to name just a few. But in a press release for the new film, Disney confirmed several important story details, including proof that this plot will involve resistance fighters who are tapped to steal plans for the Death Star. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy announced:
Rogue One takes place before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope and will be a departure from the saga films but have elements that are familiar to the Star Wars universe. It goes into new territory, exploring the galactic struggle from a ground-war perspective while maintaining that essential Star Wars feel that fans have come to know. Gareth is such an innovative director and I’m so excited to be working with him and the extraordinary ensemble cast he’s selected for Rogue One."
In revealing this first look at the Rogue One cast in character, Kennedy and her team revealed several names that we hadn’t heard before. At the moment, the full cast for Star Wars: Rogue One includes:
- Felicity Jones
- Donnie Yen
- Jiang Wen
- Mads Mikkelsen
- Alan Tudyk, who plays a performance-capture character in Rogue One, according to reports, and
- Riz Ahmed
In mapping out the creative team behind Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One, I’m going to defer to the release, which lays out a TON of talent:
To create the lived-in, realistic feel of Rogue One, Edwards chose Greig Fraser (Zero Dark Thirty, Foxcatcher) to be his director of photography and Neil Corbould (Black Hawk Down, Gladiator) to be his special effects supervisor. Star Wars and Lucasfilm veteran Doug Chiang (Star Wars: Episodes I-II) and Neil Lamont (supervising art director for the Harry Potter series) will be the production designers. Additional crew members will include stunt coordinator Rob Inch (World War Z), creature effects supervisor Neal Scanlan (Prometheus) and co-costume designers Dave Crossman (costume supervisor for the Harry Potter series, Saving Private Ryan) and Glyn Dillon (costume concept artist for Kingsman: The Secret Service, Jupiter Ascending).
Gareth Edwards will have Star Wars: Rogue One in theaters on December 16, 2016.
