Star Wars: Rogue One

[Jedieb]

That's the title for the first stand alone Star Wars film. It's going to start filming this summer and has a release date of Dec. 16, 2016. Gareth Edwards is directing and the first cast member announced is Felicity Jones. A new film every year, good times, good times indeed.

[Atreyu]

I have to say, I'm fascinated how these stand-alone films are going to turn out (maybe even more than the upcoming trilogy, simply because SW has never done stand-alone films before).

Curious about the name 'Rogue One' - a possible reference to a new Rogue Squadron perhaps? Or maybe the name is just a coincidence. :)

[Rev Solomon]

Back when it was announced they would be doing standalone movies, a Rogue Squadron movie was one of the first ideas that came up. I'm pretty positive that's what we're getting here. :)

Of course, it doesn't have to be set in the sequel era - it could even be about the formation of the original squadron during the Civil War. Either way, with The Force Awakens almost undoubtedly being a Jedi-centered plot, I'm thrilled that we're going to see other sectors of the Star Wars universe featured as well. Rogue One could be your war movie. A Han Solo prequel could be a heist/crime drama. So many possibilities to explore!

[Lilaena De'Ville]

With the EU thrown out, it'll be interesting to find out what it will end up being. Are they going to use some of the EU stuff or just start fresh with...?

[Jedieb]

I believe they're starting out completely fresh, but new events are being put in place. Disney/Lucasfilm is getting ready to release close to 20 books that will fill in the gap between ROTJ and TFA. Some of them will be novels, young adult books, etc. I believe one of the first ones will be released in September and pick up right after ROTJ. I remember reading the EU novel that took place after ROTJ and it was pretty forgettable, I can't even remember the title.

I find the idea of a Rogue Squadron movie great. It was always one of my favorite vehicles and I think there's a lot of potential there. Disney clearly wants this new Star Wars cinematic universe to function just like Marvel. We're going to keep seeing SW movies now until they stop making money.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

What, you can't remember the Thrawn Trilogy?? Or do you mean the Truce at Bakura?

[Jedieb]

The Thrawn trilogy was amazing, but I think you've got it with the Truce at Bakura. I believe that's the one that had Luke in command of a fleet and sitting on the bridge of a starship still suffering from the after effects of the Emperor's Force lightning. I could look up a timeline, but I'm too lazy. :zzz

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Hmm, maybe. My memory on the details is fuzzy, besides the sentient dinosaurs using the life force of everyone to power their tech. :)

anyway, looking forward to the movie and the new books!

[Atreyu]

SW: Rogue One teaser was shown at Celebration the other day and had been uploaded to YouTube, but Disney have already swooped on it and shut it down. :(

EDIT: FOUND A VIDEO LINK GO GO GO

https://vid.me/4eLe

:) :) :)


(earlier) EDIT: someone managed to make an animated GIF of it :

http://i.imgur.com/wRrop9f.gif

And we have a synopsis from Twitter as well:

A band of resistance fighters unite for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans in Star Wars anthology film, Rogue One #RogueOne

[Charley]

If it's stealing the Death Star plans, I hope this movie plays out like The Dirty Dozen. That would be amazing.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

that is amazing D:

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Oh... oh WOW O_O

[Atreyu]

If it's stealing the Death Star plans, I hope this movie plays out like The Dirty Dozen. That would be amazing.
Yeah that would be awesome. :D

Also, from seeing that teaser we now know that the stand-alone films are going to be packaged and marketed as 'Star Wars Anthology'. :)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Casting is ramping up: http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/13/star-wars-diego-luna-rogue-one


As production on Gareth Edwards’ Star Wars spin-off, Rogue One, comes closer and closer, casting is ramping up. The latest actor to jump into the cockpit is Diego Luna, who joines Felicity Jones in the story of the Rebel raid to steal plans for the first Death Star.
The Y Tu Mamá También actor will join Jones and Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler) as one of the film’s leads, while Ben Mendelsohn will portray Rogue One’s main villain, according to Variety (http://variety.com/2015/film/news/star-wars-rogue-one-diego-luna-cast-1201494752/). Luna’s reps and Lucasfilm didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

At Star Wars Celebration last month, Edwards expressed his intention to put the “war” back in Star Wars, comparing the film’s military-heavy action to Black Hawk Down. Another stand-alone film, which was set to be directed by Josh Trank, was thrown into turmoil when the director left the project. That movie, which sources tell EW is a Boba Fett-led bounty hunter team-up (http://www.ew.com/article/2013/02/06/star-wars-spin-offs-young-han-solo-movie-boba-fett), is now in the hunt for a new filmmaker.

Another spin-off film previously in development was a young Han Solo story (http://www.ew.com/article/2013/02/06/star-wars-spin-offs-young-han-solo-movie-boba-fett), but that project has been bumped back to avoid confusion. Harrison Ford will reprise his role as a lead character in this December’s The Force Awakens, and executives were concerned about the appearance of “rebooting” the character with the first stand-alone the very next year.

Star Wars: Rogue One is currently scheduled to hit theaters on Dec. 16, 2016.
The Boba Fett film isn’t expected until at least 2018, after the release of Looper director Rian Johnson’s The Force Awakens follow-up, the as-yet-untitled Episode VIII.

[Atreyu]

Sounds like things are moving along nicely. :)

In regards to the rest of the article:
* Fairly indifferent to a Boba Fett-focused film - unlike other parts of the fandom I've never had an overt interest in him (I like the character, but not to the obsessive levels some poeple have). Hope it turns out well regardless.
* Young Han Solo film - yeah I concur with the executives. Watching the Celebration reaction where the fans just went ballistic when old Han and Chewie appeared on screen, I think trying to launch a 'younger version' of Han now is just too soon and the comparisons (almost certain to be polarising) would be inevitable.

[Padd]

I'm very excited about this. I enjoy the story arcs about non Force using characters.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Some pictures have apparently leaked: http://www.starwarsunderworld.com/2016/01/rumor-new-pictures-from-rogue-one-leaked.html

Not huge spoilers, they're reportedly images of some of the ships that will feature in the film.

[Captain Untouchable]

I guess that answers the "are they actually X-Wing pilots, though?" question, then.

I know we all kinda assumed that because of the whole Rogue One thing, but there wasn't anything particularly piloty about the cast photo they released (or the synopsis so far). Good to know they aren't misusing Jaden's callsign. ;)

[Dasquian Belargic]

New photos of costumes from Rogue One: http://pulse.therpf.com/new-photos-of-costumes-from-rogue-one-a-star-wars-story

[Zeven Ekkel]

New photos of costumes from Rogue One: http://pulse.therpf.com/new-photos-of-costumes-from-rogue-one-a-star-wars-story

This looks so awesome!

[darth_mcbain]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wji-BZ0oCwg

Until now, I have been kind of "meh" about Rogue One - I just was not as excited about this one as I would be for the official "Episode" movies. However, I have to say I like the look of this trailer quite a bit. Excitement just got ratcheted up a bit... :)

[Rutabaga]

I thought it was a great trailer and really hit some terrific nostalgia points. I'm definitely looking forward to it! :eee

[Charley]

Wji-BZ0oCwg

Boom!

Star Wars Dirty Dozen

[Crusader]

:dood: that was awesome! I now need some ice for my nerd boner...

[Dasquian Belargic]

Why didn't Disney buy the rights to Star Wars sooner?! Why did we have to wait so long for all this goodness

[Padd]

Trailer looks very promising. Excited to say the least. I want to know who is in the bacta tank after reading all the rumors.

[Dasquian Belargic]

http://io9.gizmodo.com/rogue-one-images-confirm-new-ships-new-characters-and-1777051381

More info on character names - plus two new ships and some awesome poster-ish art

[Miranda Tarkin]

Oddly, I wasn't stoked about this movie but once I read through this article and rewatched the trailer, I need it to be here now :ohno

[Madeleia]

I can't wait for this one as well as Episode VIII next year. :D I definitely agree, I wish George would have sold to Disney years ago, but love what he created.

[Miranda Tarkin]

I got to see the trailer on the big screen yesterday and got misty eyed. So excited for this!

[Madeleia]

:D Sometimes I do that just hearing the theme music. lol

[darth_mcbain]

http://www.slashfilm.com/rogue-one-reshoots-2/

Apparently Rogue One is in for some re-shoots. Personally, this worries me. One of the things I loved about the originals (and the prequels, for that matter) is that they have been made mostly in isolation from "the suits". Like them or loathe them, at least George Lucas made the movies _he_ wanted to make, and didn't bow to executive pressure.

Whether these new movies are good or bad, I at least want to see the director's vision played out, and not a "designed-by-committee" movie that just follows a prescribed path for what "the suits" think a movie should be.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Re-shoots happen for all movies - maybe a shot didn't turn out the way a director intended or they look at the edit and it needs an extra scene for some clarification. I'm not worried.

[Captain Untouchable]

The explanation I read earlier was that the first cut of Rogue One was a bit too "serious"? The execs felt that there wasn't enough fun/levity in the story to match the tone of A New Hope, and since Rogue One ends where Episode IV begins, they asked for reshoots so that they match up a little better.

So in other words... they're reshoots to make it more Star Warsy? Which is probably not a bad thing.

[Madeleia]

Given all the people that are involved and where they had worked in the past, there was probably too much slant toward Saving Private Ryan and other movies like that, so it's understandable. I can't wait to see this though. :D

[Padd]

While the initial reports indicated the execs thought the movie was too serious, there are now reports that the reshoots are happening, at least in part, to include a cameo of Alden Ehrenreich playing young Han Solo.

http://screenrant.com/star-wars-rogue-one-han-solo-cameo/

[Crusader]

They did reshoots of entire segments of TFA when Harrison Ford was injured and the whole part in Ireland was shot only weeks before the release. I am not that scared of reshoots if this does not mean that they have to do an entire alternativ ending.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

This part of the article really stood out to me:



Director Gareth Edwards (who also helmed the recent Godzilla remake) set out to make more of a war film rather than a classically structured Star Wars adventure movie – which is allegedly one reason why Disney execs weren’t keen on the vibe of the spinoff’s initial cut.


I hope Mr. Edwards is able to keep as much of the war movie as he can, since that was what has me so excited for this movie. I love my Star Wars adventures make no mistake, but I also want to see something more gritty and angry, and shows that war, even in a galaxy far far away, is a painful thing.

[Madeleia]

I couldn't agree more. I love the sarcasm in most of the movies, but having the chance to actually see how dark war is in that galaxy only makes it more real.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Exactly. I mean, yeah we got a hefty gut punch (regardless of some of us expecting something bad) in TFA, but I really think the franchise will benefit from being shown off through different lenses. We have our adventure flicks through the Eps, and I'd really like to see the Anthology films expand and really push the boundaries of the Star Wars universe in both style and subject matter.

[Figrin D'an]

I initially shrugged off the reshoot news as well, but some of the reports on why and how are concerning to me. Rumors that another director is being brought in to help with the reshoot scenes, that the Disney execs thought it wasn't enough like The Force Awakens or A New Hope. Gareth Edwards entire premise was to make a more gritty war movie, which I think is very fitting for this specific story, and he was apparently very open about this, but now this approach isn't correct according to some? There's a rumor floating around that there was a scene in the first cut in which Vader shows up and completely slaughters a squad of Rebel troops, and this was one of the scenes that the execs couldn't stomach because they wanted a more family friendly movie.

Reshoots that are necessary to redo a scene or add some small piece of content are normal. Reshoots that are done to completely revamp the core of a movie rarely turn out well. Hopefully this is just the Star Wars hype machine making a mountain out of a molehill.

[Dasquian Belargic]

There's a rumor floating around that there was a scene in the first cut in which Vader shows up and completely slaughters a squad of Rebel troops,

That would be so brutal / awesome :ohno

[Dasquian Belargic]

Character run down from here: http://io9.gizmodo.com/meet-the-heroes-villains-and-badass-droid-of-rogue-on-1782427553


Jyn Erso, played by Felicity Jones. She’s the one character we already knew and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy calls her “ a kind of Joan of Arc in the story.
Captain Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna. He’s a “by the book” Rebel officer who is teamed up with Erso to ground her a bit.
Chirrut Imwe played by Donnie Yen. Imwe is a “warrior monk” type who is blind and, while he can’t use the Force, believes in it.
Baze Malbus played by Jiang Wen. He’s the close friend of Chirrut Imwe who doesn’t quite share his spiritual beliefs.
Bodhi Rook played by Riz Ahmed. More than just a potential Point Break reference, Rook is “the Rebel’s lead pilot.”
K-2SO played by Alan Tudyk. Referred to as K-2, this droid is described by director Gareth Edwards as “Chewbacca’s personality in a droid’s body. He doesn’t give a shit about what you think.”
Galen Erso played by Mads Mikkelsen. Galen is Jyn’s father who is a scientist with work desired by the Rebels and Empire.
Director Orson Krennic played by Ben Mendelsohn. An “ambitious” Imperial officer, he’s hoping to catch the favor of the Emperor while not pissing off Darth Vader. Not an easy task.

[Y'roth Helghast]

I'm pretty excited with it so far. I'm hoping the grit of the trailer is thematic to the movie and that we get something a bit more... rougher than TFA. The line up looks fantastic and I'm kind of hoping that Jyn Erso actually ends up becoming Howlrunner​ as unlikely as that could be.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

OMG Alan Tudyk's character is a DROID :supaburn: this is going to be amazing.

He probably got the job because of his great work in iRobot :lol

[Captain Untouchable]

Intrigued to know what Krennic is Director of. The uniform makes me think ISB (like Yularen in ANH)... but an ISB Agent is a big part of Rebels, and his uniform is very different to anything from Rogue One so far. Would be surprised if they didn't tie the two together visually somehow... though maybe it'll be Rebels Season 3 providing that link.

Love the idea of Alan Tudyk voicing something from the HK-47 and 0-0-0 school of droids. Would not be surprised if I end up with another droid character once this movie comes out. :uhoh

Really like the idea of the "a Jedi but without the powers" angle on Imwe, too.

Intrigued by the as-yet-unrevealed Forest Whitaker. The article I read said they were doing that reveal later today, and that fans are gonna know the name when they hear it. Knee jerk obvious guess is an unmasked Boba Fett (not sure if I love or hate the idea)... kinda wondering if he might be a Force user plucked from the EU though, since that's one of the missing pieces from the "typical EU Rebel team" stereotype. A race switched Rahm Kota maybe?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

He couldn't possibly be Boba Fett, Boba is a clone.

[Vansen Tyree]

Yeah, I know Boba Fett is a clone. :p

He's just the first thing that sprang to mind, is all. Boba Fett is an immensely popular character, and Rogue One is one of the only live action movie opportunities that Disney has to bring him back into play (unless they have him crawl out of the sarlacc again). He's not the right ethnicity (Maori rather than African-American), but he might be "close enough" as far as Hollywood is concerned... and even in the EU, Star Wars doesn't have all that many non-white characters that the audience might get excited about. The EW release said something about him not quite looking the way that people would expect, so unless they're taking a caucasian character from the EU and race-switching them (which is entirely possible)...?

*shrug*

It's not necessarily likely, but I wouldn't go as far as "couldn't possibly".

[Lilaena De'Ville]

He's Grand Admiral Thrawn. :eek

[Captain Untouchable]

Huh. Apparently he is Saw Gerrera (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Saw_Gerrera/Legends), a character from Clone Wars who led an anti-Separatist rebellion on Onderon?

I guess it's cool that we're getting an animated character in live action (and it sounds like they've been seeding little references to him in books and Rebels for a while), but not sure it's worth all the "special reveal" fanfare.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I suppose this means I need to finish watching Rebels.

[Captain Untouchable]

He's only appeared in Clone Wars (opening story arc of Season 5, which is all about Onderon) - but he was referenced as part of Agent Kallus' backstory in a recent-ish Rebels episode. :)

[Y'roth Helghast]

Maybe not a surprise or new news, but James Earl Jones was confirmed for the voice of Darth Vader in an article I saw earlier today. That's refreshing.

[Victor Crestmere]

^^^^

Totally had a "fan-girl" moment when I found that out. My wife just stared at me like I was crazy haha

[Park Kraken]

Highlight reel from Celebration with new scenes and cast, totally awesome!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUb_zpdyDpU

[Isamaya]

This movie definitely looks great so far and can't wait for the full length trailer to come out. Hopefully soon.

[darth_mcbain]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dfrdj1zb9sMY&ved=0ahUKEwjS4JXh8brOAhWD4iYKHeKyCxYQtwIIVzAV&usg=AFQjCNH8-DdYOmWIBmx8lg8MdpixbuVu5g&sig2=XBgQ0TMwNsXrGTp2cFMoLA

Oh yeah...

[Taataani Meorrrei]

frdj1zb9sMY

I'm getting a lot of Mass Effect 2 feels with this movie and that is a great thing.

Excitement intensifies!

[Droo]

It feels so different from any other Star Wars film we've ever seen before.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

That's what has me so excited, heh. This glimpse into a different style of story and different people in the Star Wars galaxy :D

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

Also I wonder if that planet with all the mesas is Onderon

[Satkia Beltrak]

Yes yes yes for the Mass Effect 2 feels! Made me want to get back to the game when I eventually get my desktop back next month <3

Is it December yet? :D

[Madeleia]

:D I can't wait for this movie now, especially seeing the new trailer. Being able to explore a new world or two only brings more life to that galaxy. I also love that they're using a totally new group of characters beyond Mon Mothma and the council that started the rebellion. Nice to get away from the Skywalker family for a bit. lol

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Haha yup, I want to see what other folks besides the Skywalkers are getting up to. That's what makes the Star Wars setting so enjoyable, I think. You just know there are an endless amount of other stories happening, and you want to see past the Skywalkers and watch other people doing stuff. Least for me, that's how it is.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Who has their midnight showing tickets? :D

[Droo]

Me and Peter do. :thumbup

[Nikolai Drakken]

Still waiting for them to go on sale in the US, but Kayla and I are planning on the 7 pm Thursday showing.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Thursday the 15th? I didn't think it was out until the 16th in the US

[Madeleia]

The more I see about this movie, the more excited about it. :)

[Nikolai Drakken]

It usually comes out at 7 pm the night before, instead of Midnight releases these days. Probably to counter UK Timezones.

[Charley]

Americans can pre-order tickets starting on Monday :)

[Nikolai Drakken]

And we have ours. 7 PM Thursday, RPX. Within 20 minutes they lost the entire middle of the theater down the line from back row to about 4 rows from front and the seats on either side.

[Madeleia]

Not totally surprised. lol Wondering if this movie will make as much or more than Episode VII....

[Syravari Elik]

Going to see Rogue One here in over an hour... Can't wait. :D

[Madeleia]

Just saw it and it was amazing. :) Not going to spoil the movie, but it's one that's definitely going to be added to the collection.

[Sanfis Feldor]

Saw it today. Absolutely fantastic!

[Atreyu]

Saw it last night - yay! :)