The first glimpse of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has hit, with more promised for tomorrow on Good Morning America. There’s not much to see yet, but anticipation is certainly building for Gareth Edwards’ spinoff tale of a group of rebels working to steal plans for the Death Star. Recently, we learned that Christopher McQuarrie was brought in to “save” the script, but when it comes to showing some first footage apparently Disney is ready to pony up.

In this first super short glimpse though, we are seeing a new kind of stormtrooper, which should set off your speculation radars. Any guesses as to what it's all about? Rogue One stars Felicity Jones, Mads Mikkelsen, Ben Mendelsohn, Alan TudykDonnie Yen, Forest Whitaker, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, and Jiang Wen, and is set to hit theaters on December 16th. Check out the preview for the teaser below:


We don't know much about the movie yet, but timeline-wise it seems that Rogue One wil take place between Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New HopeGeorge Lucas originally conceived of the story, and that it's one of several Star Wars stories not tied to the Skywalkers (in fact, it's worth noting that this film will not reportedly feature almost any Jedi). It also takes place during the same time period as Star Wars Rebels, but apparently navigating that narratively isn't something that the Disney and Lucasfilms are particularly concerned about. (Also for what it's worth, the movie might also feature a Han Solo cameo).

Behind the scenes, Kathleen Kennedy and Kiri Hart among the film’s producers, while ILM's John Knoll originally pitched the film to Kennedy. Chris Weitz has the film's screenplay credit (though as noted above, McQuarrie made have had a hand in cleaning it up), with Gary Whitta credited for the storycraft alongside Knoll. As Dave Trumbore covered in his excellent Everything We Know about ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ piece, there’s quite a bit more quality behind-the-scenes talent as well:

  • rogue-one-star-wars-celebration-panel-stream
    Image via Disney
    Director of Photography Greig Fraser worked on Zero Dark Thirty
  • VFX supervisor Neil Corbould worked on Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan.
  • Neil Lamont (Harry Potter series) and Doug Chiang (Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace) are production designers.
  • Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat will bring his considerable skills to bear in crafting Rogue One’s score
  • Stunt coordinator Rob Inch (World War Z, Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger)
  • Creature effects supervisor Neal Scanlan (Prometheus)
  • 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).

So let us know -- just how excited are you for this to arrive?


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Image via Disney
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Image via Lucasfilm

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Image via Lucasfilm
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Image via Lucasfilm