Disney and Lucasfilm are still riding high after the tremendous success ofJ.J. Abrams’The Force Awakens. Now they are focused on the very bright future of the franchise, and they are in the middle of their annual convention for all things related to a galaxy far far away,Star Wars Celebration. The event is taking place in London this year, and they finished off the event Friday with a panel for the upcoming spin off movie,Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
TheRogue Onepanel closed out the first day ofStar WarsCelebration, which is going on now through Sunday, and was moderated byGwendoline Christie, who made her debut in theStar Warsuniverse as Captain Phasma inThe Force Awakenslast year. Virtually every major player involved inRogue Onewas on hand for the panel, including Lucasfilm presidentKathleen Kennedyand directorGareth Edwards. The energy about the movie from everyone on the panel was very high, andEdwardsseemed confident and giddy about what they have accomplished with the movie.
“It’s a style that is unlike any other Star Wars Movie…This is going to be an incredibly immersive experience when you see Rogue One”
There were a ton of moments to highlight from the panel, and the entirety of the central cast forRogue Onewas in attendance for the panel, and while some had to remain very quiet about their characters, others were able to say quite a bit that we didn’t know already.Diego Lunadiscussed his characterCassian Andora bit more, and revealed that he is close friends withAlan Tudyk’s droid character K-2SO.Tudykdiscussed hisnew droid charactera bit in detail, which is something we hadn’t heard all that much about until now. Here is what he had to say.
“Cassian reprogrammed him and did like, a data wipe. And when he reprogrammed, he’s not quite all there. He speaks his mind and says things that can be unsettling. He’s very honest. If you know any old people, he’s like that. He says whatever he thinks. And it was great to play him.”
The rest of the cast got to have a moment or two to discuss their character, but much of it had to continue to be shrouded in secrecy, thoughDonnie Yenseemed particularly excited to be involved and was beaming when he got a chance to discuss his character, Chirrut Imwe. Outside of everyone discussing their characters briefly, we also got to see one of the earliest pieces of concept art that was done forRogue One, which is very interesting when compared to the final product as it has evolved quite a bit from that stage. There was also a very fun moment whereBen Mendelsohncame out dressed as his villainous character, Director Orson Krennic, surround by a group of Death Troopers.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Storytakes place during the time period afterRevenge of the Sithand just before the events ofA New Hope. It will be telling the tale of the band of Rebels who were tasked with stealing the plans for the original Death Star. The movie starsFelicity Jones, who is playing themain characterof the movie named Jyn Erso, who will lead the rag-tag group on the very dangerous mission.Rogue One: A Star Wars Storyis set for release on December 16. You can check out theRogue Onepanel fromStar WarsCelebration for yourself below, as well as some of the best images from the event.
