So today’s the last day of Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, so Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and Rogue One director Gareth Edwards came out to provide a few more details the upcoming non-trilogy film.
The film now has an official description, and it’s pretty minimal but nevertheless intriguing:
A band of resistance fighters unite for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans in the Star Wars Anthology film, Rogue One.
Those plans are for the first Death Star, mind you. Oh, and this will be the first Star Wars film that isn’t about Jedi. The film’s protagonist, played by Felicity Jones, is a Rebel soldier. They’re really pushing the idea that this will be a morally complex Star Wars film — something with more moral gray area. The screenplay will be credited to Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz, and the film will be shot by cinematographer Greig Fraser (Let Me In, Killing Them Softly, Foxcatcher, and Zero Dark Thirty). The impression I get is that this will be a heist story in a war movie, which sounds just goddamn delightful. Here is a shot (not a good one, unfortunately) from StarWars.com that features some concept art from the film:
A brief full-CG teaser was also shown during the panel, and it’s about thirty seconds of a forest planet. There’s some Ben Kenobi voiceover. TIE fighters fly overhead, and the Death Star can be seen in the sky like — what else — a huge moon. Audience members who shot the teaser with their phones have posted pirated copies online (please don’t post them here).
Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One will open on December 16, 2016.