Two days after Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released on home video, the Disney and Lucasfilm crew is keeping the excitement level high with a preview for the next blockbuster in the Star Wars saga. The teaser trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story debuted Thursday morning on Good Morning America in a nice bit of corporate synergy.
In addition to the new films continuing the original mythology, Disney and Lucasfilm will also be releasing anthology stories that take place outside the previously established narrative. In most cases, these stand-alone films will be prequels. (For instance, a movie with a younger Han Solo.)
That’s definitely the case for Rogue One, which takes place before the events of Episode III: A New Hope. The story follows an attempt by the Rebel Alliance to steal Imperial plans for the Death Star before the Empire can get their weapon of mass destruction fully operational. Here’s a look at the new teaser trailer:
Lucasfilm has been promoting Rogue One as a heist story and war film, and this preview certainly follows through on that build-up. We see Stormtroopers in special-ops black armor, Rebel soldiers taken captive, and the image that should excite most Star Wars fans is a fleet of AT-AT (All-Terrain Armored Transport) vehicles stomping their way across the landscape and blasting everything in sight.
As seen in the trailer, Rogue One stars Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) as Jyn Erso, a thief and vagabond recruited by the Rebellion to execute their heist. (But does she switch sides during the story, as the end of the trailer implies, or is she in disguise as a TIE Fighter pilot in order to pull off her mission?)
Forest Whitaker and Donnie Yen are also seen in this trailer, likely as bounty hunters who are also after those Death Star plans. (Martial arts star Yen gets to bring his fighting skills to the story. Why else would he be cast?) Diego Luna (Elysium) appears to be a Rebel soldier. Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline) is reportedly playing the film’s main villain, and is briefly shown in his Imperial military uniform. And it certainly looked like a Sith Lord is part of the action.
Directed by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) and written by John Knoll, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is scheduled for a Dec. 16 release. So for the second straight year, we’ll be getting some Star Wars with our holiday season.
