Plot for Star Wars spin-off 'Rogue One' revealed
It hits cinemas one year after Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The new Star Wars film will tell the story of how a group of resistance fighters steal plans to the infamous Death Star.
The news was revealed to fans at the Star Wars Celebration convention in California over the weekend.
Rogue One will be the first in a series of movie adventures outside of the core Star Wars saga and will be set before the first movie of the original trilogy, ‘Episode IV: A New Hope’.
Released in 1977, the film began with the Empire’s pursuit of a ship carrying Princess Leia and the plans to the deadly space station.
There was also a specially created trailer shown at the Star Wars convention which showed a TIE fighter soaring over a planet with the Death Star in the distance.
The movie’s director, Gareth Edwards, revealed that because the Jedi Knights were mostly wiped out in the previous film ‘Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith’, the story would be very different to the other Star Wars films.
“It comes down to a group of individuals that don’t have magical powers that have to somehow bring hope to the galaxy,” he said.
The British director, who is a lifelong Star Wars fan, added that in previous films characters were clearly defined as good or bad, whereas he wanted ‘Rogue One’ to blur the lines.
“The thing that interests me about it, is Star Wars was basically very black and white. Our movie is grey.”
The film will be led by British Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, who will play a rebel soldier.
Rogue One starts filming in the UK this summer and will hit cinemas in December 2016, one year after the upcoming Star Wars film ‘The Force Awakens’.
Photo Credit: Lucasfilms/Walt Disney Studios/20th Century Fox