STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE will focus on the beginning of the rebel movement prior to A NEW HOPE!
In one of the final panels at Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy and STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE director Gareth Edwards (GODZILLA) took the stage to present the details of the first live-action stand-alone film in the franchise!
STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE is not the story of the Jedi. Instead, it will tell the story of regular civilians “that don’t have magic powers, that have to bring hope to the galaxy” who form the early stages of the rebel alliance against the Empire.
The film will chronologically take place just before STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE.
Deadline has a quick synopsis of the teaser shown during the panel, which briefly found its way online, but has been removed since:
Starting with impressionistic scenes of a forested landscape, voice over narration came courtesy of Alec Guinness’ famous line from A New Hope, intoning “For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire.” The camera then pans up from the forest to reveal the horizon of a planet around which the completed Death Star is orbiting.
Felicity Jones (THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING) has been cast in the lead role, but no other casting announcements have been made for the stand-alone so far.
STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE will be out December 16, 2016.