First ‘Star Wars: Rogue One’ Photo Revealed; New Cast Members Announced [D23 Expo 2015]
Gareth Edwards’Star Wars: Rogue Oneis still over a year away, but thanks to D23 we have a tantalizing taste of the upcoming film today.
The very first official photo has just been revealed, featuringFelicity Jones,Diego Luna,Riz Ahmed,Jiang Wen, andDonnie Yen(the latter two of whom wererecentlyrumoredfor the cast).
And that’s not all.Mads MikkelsenandAlan Tudykare also announced to be joiningStar Wars: Rogue One, whileForest WhitakerandBen Mendelsohnwere confirmed. See the firstStar Wars Rogue Onephoto, and get more casting details.
Left to Right: Actors Riz Ahmed, Diego Luna, Felicity Jones, Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen.
The press release gave us this info about the cast:
The filmmakers have assembled a stellar cast, including Felicity Jones, nominated for an Academy Award for her leading role inThe Theory of Everything;Diego Luna, who was featured in 2008’s Oscar-winningMilkand2013’sElysium; Ben Mendelsohn, recently nominated for an Emmy for his leading role inBloodlineand co-starring in the upcomingMississippi Grind; Donnie Yen, Hong Kong action star and martial artist who starred inIp ManandBlade II; Jiang Wen, who co-wrote, produced , directed and starred in the award-winningLet the Bullets FlyandDevils on the Doorstep; Forest Whitaker, recently featured in the critically-acclaimedLee Daniels' The Butlerand winner of an Academy Award for his leading role in 2006’sThe Last King of Scotland; Mads Mikkelsen, who starred inThe Huntand was the memorable villain from 2006’sCasino Royale; Alan Tudyk, who plays a performance-capture character inRogue One, stars in the soon-to-be-releasedCon Manseries andTrumbo, which releases this November; and Riz Ahmed, who was recently featured inNightcrawlerand starred in the BAFTA-winning filmFour Lions.
The film marks a change in Disney and Lucasfilm’s classification of the standalone spin-off movies as Star Wars Anthology films, announced at Star Wars Celebration. The films will instead be released under the “A Star Wars Story” banner.
Alan Horn Introduces a star wars story
We’ve since heard rumblings that the secondStar Wars Anthologyfilm (the oneJosh Trankwas previously attached to) would’ve focused on bounty hunter Boba Fett, and it seems (for now) we may have been wrong about the bounty hunter part of our report (more on that later).
Jones stars as a Resistance soldier, and Ahmed and Luna will play Resistance characters as well. Mendelsohn is expected to play a villain. Tudyk will play a mo-cap character. In addition,Jonathan Aris(BBC’sSherlock,The World’s End)mighthave a role in the film.Alexandre Desplat, and not John Williams,will write the score forRogue One. We don’t know the film’s main antagonist yet, but it’s been reported thatDarth Vaderwill make some sort of appearance in the film.
There have been rumors that Felicity Jones' character is related to a Star Wars character we already know, and therumor millthinksshe could be(possible spoilers coming up, invisotext)the daughter of bounty hunter Boba Fett or Sabine from Star Wars Rebels. We’re not sure if this is true, but this would line up with our initial report that it would be a bunch of bounty hunters pulling off the heist for the death star plans. (invisotext ended)
Rogue Oneis set between the filmsStar Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the SithandStar Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope, during the Age of the Empire.Gary WhittaandChris Weitzwrote the screenplay based on an idea byJohn Knoll. Filming has begun in London at Pinewood Studios, andthe first set photoshave leaked online.
Unlike the previous live-actionStar Warsfilms,Rogue Onewill not revolve around the Jedi or the Force. Edwards described the film at Celebration Anaheim as existing in a more “gray” area than the black and white of the original trilogy, touting that the film would feel “Real…This is a real place that we’re really in.”
