With Star Wars: The Force Awakens on pace to become the biggest movie of all time, attention is turning to the next chapter of Star Wars drama. But before we see what ensues in the Skywalker saga, we’ll leap back in time to the days of the original death star with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The first of the “anthology” collection - a series of spin-off movies set in the Star Wars universe - Rogue One will be the next installment to premiere on screens in winter 2016.
Rogue One follows a band of rebel spies attempting to steal the plans to the first-ever death star. It takes place right before the events of Star Wars: Episode VI - A New Hope, but will not feature the characters of any previous Star Wars movies - except for one powerful sith lord. For the most part, Rogue One is expected to follow an entirely new direction, and has even been described by director Gareth Edwards as a “heist movie.” That’s certainly a unique format for a Star Wars film, leading many fans anxious as to what to expect.
One of the film’s stars, Ben Mendelsohn, is aware of the pressure following the success of The Force Awakens. In a recent interview with Deadline, the Bloodline-actor had some words of encouragement for passionate Star Wars fans:
“I wouldn’t want to spoil anything for anyone on those levels…But you can expect something pretty special, I’d like to think. I was in the audience for number seven and it was delightful. It exceeded my wildest hopes and dreams for what it might be. It’s a beautiful film. So we’ve got something to reach for and that’s a good thing.”
As proved recently by people like John Boyega (Finn in TFA), it’s always good to be genuinely invested in the project you are working on. Mendelsohn went on to state his lifelong affection for Star Wars:
“So it was, like, 1977, and I was there…What can I say? I bought it. I bought it lock, stock and barrel. I’ve been a fan of it forever. It’s Star Wars, and there’s nothing more that you can say about that, because anyone that actually knows what that means, they get it.”
Mendelsohn recently finished shooting his scenes for Rogue One and plays a role in a strong cast that includes Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything), Mads Mikkelsen ("Hannibal"), Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler), and Alan Tudyk (Firefly) and a whole squadron of legitimate British officers as rebel soldiers.
It will be fascinating to see how Rogue One ties together with the Star Wars franchise. We’ll find out in just about one year, as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story arrives in theaters on Dec. 16.
