Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One Plot Synopsis and Teaser Unveiled

By  · Published on April 19th, 2015

Lucasfilm

On the last day of Star Wars Celebration, a panel was held for the “standalone” Star Wars movies. Both Gareth Edwards and Josh Trank, each set to direct their own installment, were scheduled to attend, but Trank called out sick. Edwards, meanwhile, offered a whole lot of details about the first of these movies, which we previously heard is called Rogue One.

Technically, it’s fully titled Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One. These movies set outside the main numerical series of Star Wars sequels are all labeled with this Star Wars Anthology banner. Also revealed during the presentation was confirmation that Rogue One will be a heist flick involving the Death Star, as has long been rumored. Here’s the official wording, via Twitter:

A band of resistance fighters unite for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans in Star Wars anthology film, Rogue One #RogueOne.

— Star Wars (@starwars) April 19, 2015

Further details include Felicity Jones’s role being a rebel soldier, among that band of thieves, and the time period being before the events of the first Star Wars movie (aka Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope), as the Death Star is already in the midst of being constructed. There’s a chance that there will be some link between Rogue One and the animated TV series Star Wars Rebels.

Apparently the approach is not only for this to be a heist flick but also a kind of war mission movie, and having Greig Fraser (Zero Dark Thirty) as DP and spotlighting other major crew members as being vets of Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan points to the tone Edwards is going for.

Here are the new official Rogue One logo and concept art for the movie captured during the panel, plus a cam-captured teaser:

This is what the Rogue One logo looks like, giving you an idea of how the stand alone movies will be presented pic.twitter.com/JW5wl5qixZ – Peter Sciretta (@slashfilm) April 19, 2015

StarWars.com / Lucasfilm

Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One shoots this summer and then hits theaters on December 16, 2016.

Christopher Campbell began writing film criticism and covering film festivals for a zine called Read, back when a zine could actually get you Sundance press credentials. He's now a Senior Editor at FSR and the founding editor of our sister site Nonfics. He also regularly contributes to Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes and is the President of the Critics Choice Association's Documentary Branch.