Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Movie Cast, Plot and Everything to Know

Key Facts

• Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy describes the movie as a World War II-style adventure (Variety, 11/22/16).
• The film will most likely will not begin with the usual narrative crawl detailing what's going on in a galaxy far, far away (11/25/16).
• This marks the first film in the series without a score by John Williams; Michael Giacchino (Jurassic World) composes the music (11/25/16).
• Lyra Erso is rumored to be the name of Felicity Jones' character. Three others have also reportedly joined the cast - Bern Collaco as a stormtrooper, Angus Cook as a mechanic, and Nabilah Karim in a samurai-style role (Making Star Wars, 1/5/16).
• To create the lived-in, realistic feel of Rogue One, Edwards chose Greig Fraser (Zero Dark Thirty, Foxcatcher) to be his director of photography and Neil Corbould (Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan) to be his special effects supervisor. Star Wars and Lucasfilm veteran Doug Chiang (Star Wars: Episodes I-II, Forrest Gump) and Neil Lamont (supervising art director for the Harry Potter series, Edge of Tomorrow) will be the production designers. Additional crew members will include stunt coordinator Rob Inch (World War Z, Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger), creature effects supervisor Neal Scanlan (Prometheus) and co-costume designers Dave Crossman (costume supervisor for the Harry Potter series, Saving Private Ryan) and Glyn Dillon (costume concept artist for Kingsman: The Secret Service, Jupiter Ascending).
• “Rogue One takes place before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope and will be a departure from the saga films but have elements that are familiar to the Star Wars universe,” says Kathleen Kennedy. “It goes into new territory, exploring the galactic struggle from a ground-war perspective while maintaining that essential Star Wars feel that fans have come to know. Gareth is such an innovative director and I’m so excited to be working with him and the extraordinary ensemble cast he’s selected for Rogue One.”
• The film is set after Episode III and before Episode IV; the film won't have clear-cut villains and heroes. It's also very much a war film, per director Gareth Edwards.
• The idea for the story of Rogue One came from John Knoll, an Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer at Industrial Light & Magic.
• Hollywood Reporter speculated the film likely focuses on the early days of Princess Leia (February 2015).
• Slash Film thinks the plot will be about the bounty hunters, led by Boba Fett, attempting to steal the Death Star plans (January 2015).
• Tatiana Maslany, Rooney Mara, Kate Mara, and Felicity Jones are said to be testing for a role in the film, but character details have not been revealed (January 2015).
• Spinoff to the Star Wars films. Set shortly prior to the events of Star Wars (1977). This will be a stand-alone 3D film.
• Walt Disney Pictures and Lucasfilm announced that Star Wars: Episode VII will hit theaters in the summer of 2015 and that every summer after that will offer a Star Wars film, alternating with one of the standalone films (November 2014).