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Resistance Fighters Take on a Dangerous Mission in First Star Wars Anthology Film

You’re not tired of Star Wars Celebration, are you? Good, because you don’t want to miss out on the details for the first standalone film, Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One, straight from director Gareth Edwards (Godzilla).

At the Sunday morning panel, Pablo Hidalgo of StarWars.com revealed a one-line description for the film: “A rogue band of resistance fighters united for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans and bring new hope to the galaxy.”

It takes place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Felicity Jones, the only cast member revealed so far, plays a soldier in the Rebellion. The film explores the Star Wars universe beyond the Skywalker family, and showcases morally grey characters.

Edwards even had footage to show! The film is still in pre-production but, just for Celebration, Edwards cut together some clips.

It starts with a voiceover from Alec Guiness’ Obi-Wan: “For more than a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times, before the Empire.”

Fans see a rocky planet and as the camera pans up to reveal a TIE fighter flying over, there’s a crescent moon… except that’s no moon. The original Death Star looms high above.

The clip ends with a blackout and panicked pilot voices shouting over their intercoms.

It didn’t tell the audience too much but Edwards said some inspiration came from Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down. After all, it’s called Star Wars for a reason.

Edwards explains:

Honestly, I was hoping that I hated it. I was in the thick of filming [Godzilla.] I wanted a break, take six months off, and reevaluate my life. I was like, ‘Please be rubbish, please hate it.’ I got down to the end of the paragraphs and was just like, ‘Aw, f–k…. ‘It was like checkmate, you’ve got to do it. I couldn’t sit in a cinema and watch somebody else do this. If you believe in the Force, it was like I was destined for this.

The film begins shooting this summer with a December 2016 release planned.

Josh Trank, whose Fantastic Four reboot comes out in August, will direct the second Star Wars Anthology film and was supposed to appear with Edwards but didn’t make it due to illness. There’s no word yet on what his film will be about.

How do you think Rogue One sounds? Are you excited for these anthology films? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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