With just two months to go until the release of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” director Gareth Edwards unveiled a new poster featuring the main cast on the “The Star Wars Show” on Wednesday.
In addition, he announced that a new trailer for the film will premiere Thursday morning on “Good Morning America.”
The poster features the members of the ragtag team of rebels tasked by the Rebel Alliance to steal the plans for the Death Star that send the events of the original “Star Wars” trilogy into motion. Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) stands out with the shadow of the Death Star behind her, with the rest of her team below.
Beneath the title card, we see a battalion of Stormtroopers and AT-ATs stomping across the shallow beaches of Scarif, a tropical planet that will make its debut in the new film.
At a panel in London, Edwards discussed filming the Scarif battle scenes in the Maldives with the country’s special forces, who had never heard of “Star Wars” prior to being cast as the Stormtroopers.
Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur and Simon Emanuel are producing, with John Knoll and Jason McGatlin serving as executive producers.
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” opens in U.S. theaters on December 16, 2016. Check out the poster and Edwards’ announcement on “The Star Wars Show” below.
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Who's Who in 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' (Photos)
Though "Rogue One" set just before the events of the original "Star Wars" film, it's mostly filled with characters we haven't met before. But we do know some details about them, through trailers and leaks and a big reveal over at Entertainment Weekly in July. So here's a rundown of what we know so far.
Felicity Jones plays the leading role, abrasive rebel Jyn Erso, who leads a Dirty Dozen-style team to pull a heist on the Death Star that Darth Vader built in the original "Star Wars" movie. "She’s a real survivor," producer Kathleen Kennedytold Entertainment Weekly. "She becomes a kind of Joan of Arc in the story.”
Jones was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2014 for "The Theory of Everything." She is a different human being than Daisy Ridley, who played Rey in "The Force Awakens."
Diego Luna is playing an officer in the Rebellion's intelligence arm named Cassion Andor. He's inserted into Erso's merry band of thieves as the steady counter to the volatile Erso. Luna you know from several prestige pictures, including "Frida," "Milk" and his breakout role in Alfonso Cuaron's "Y Tu Mama Tambien."
Chinese superstar Donnie Yen (best known in the West for "Ip Man") is, in terms of global exposure, the most famous member of the cast. He plays Chirrut Imwe, a blind, Force-using monk -- but not a Jedi, though he walks a similar path. He wields a staff rather than a lightsaber.
This is the acclaimed Chinese writer/director/actor Wen Jiang, making his Western film debut as Baze Malbus, another member of Jyn Erso’s team. Baze is BFFs with Chirrut, though like Han Solo he's more about blasters, armor and explosives than hokey religions and ancient weapons.
Alan Tudyk is K-2S0, a security droid. Director Gareth Edwards told EW he's basically "Chewbacca's personality in a droid’s body," which means he runs off at the mouth a lot.
Forest Whitaker is Saw Gerrera, a character we know well from the "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" animated television series. Gerrera fought alongside Anakin Skywalker in that conflict back in the day, before he became Darth Vader. According to Whitaker, Saw and his team go to far more extreme lengths to stop the Empire than Jyn is willing to go.
Ben Mendelsohn is the main villain in “Rogue One,” an Imperial called Director Orson Krennic. He leads a squad of soldiers called Deathtroopers, and they're all about squashing Erso's rogue band before they get what they're after. "He is smarter, I think, than some of his predecessors. Perhaps a little more inventive."
Riz Ahmed is Bodhi Rook, the group's attitude-spewing pilot. Everybody puts up with his s--- because he's that good. Ahmed you've seen before in "Nightcrawler," and he's set to appear in this summer's "Jason Bourne."
Mads Mikkelsen will play Galen Erso, Jyn's estranged father. Galen is a scientist of much importance in the galaxy, and is being pursued by both the Rebellion and Empire for his knowledge. And Jyn also because, you know, he's her father.
Yes, that is Mon Mothma, the top dog of the Rebel Alliance. She’s played here by Genevieve O’Reilly, who also made an appearance in the role for “Revenge of the Sith” a decade ago.
Who is this cloaked figure? We don’t know, but it’s probably someone important. And it’s a bad guy almost definitely. Darth Vader, probably not coincidentally, will appear in "Rogue One." And yes, James Earl Jones will voice him.
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There are a lot of familiar and unfamiliar faces in the first ”Star Wars“ spinoff — let’s talk about who they all are
Though "Rogue One" set just before the events of the original "Star Wars" film, it's mostly filled with characters we haven't met before. But we do know some details about them, through trailers and leaks and a big reveal over at Entertainment Weekly in July. So here's a rundown of what we know so far.
