Everything you need to know about Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

On January 6, the first live-action Star Wars spin-off in over 30 years will hit cinemas in Mainland China. Will Rogue One be a thrilling new expansion of the beloved universe, or our generation’s answer to Ewoks: The Battle for Endor? Here’s everything you need to know… 

Is Rogue One a prequel to the original Star Wars? 

Yes, but don’t panic – it’s not going to be all about tax returns and midichlorians like The Phantom Menace. The plot of 1976’s Star Wars (call it A New Hope if you must) was kicked off by the off-screen theft of the blueprints to the evil Empire’s newest weapon, the Death Star, by daring rebels. Rogue One shows us the who, how, when and where. 

So it’s Ocean’s 11 with spaceships? 

Essentially, but judging from the trailers there’s a heavy war-movie vibe as well. We already know that at least one of our heroes isn’t going to survive thanks to an awkward on-stage slip-up at the Star Wars Celebration event this summer, and it seems likely that’ll go for a few members of this reckless rebel band. 

Who’s in it? Anyone I’ve heard of? 

There are no megastars, but the cast is fantastic. Felicity Jones plays Jyn Erso, the youthful tearaway who leads the squad, with Diego Luna as her ice-cool co-captain Cassian Andor. The team is rounded out by Riz Ahmed as pilot Bodhi Rook, the mighty Forest Whitaker as battle-scarred legend Saw Gerrera (a character familiar to viewers of the Clone Wars cartoon series). Donnie Yen plays blind ninja-style zen master Chirrut Imwe, Jiang Wen is assassin Baze Malbus, Alan Tudyk from Firefly in a motion-capture suit is hulking droid K-2SO and there are at least two CG aliens. A pair of old Rebel hands also pop up, last seen in Revenge of the Sith: Jimmy Smits as Bail Organa (Leia’s adoptive dad) opposite Genevieve O’Reilly as the leader of the Alliance, Mon Mothma. Oh, and we’ll also meet Jyn’s Dad, Galen (Mads Mikkelsen), more of whom later… 

Forget the goodies, bad guys are always more fun. Who’s playing them? 

Ben Mendelsohn leads the villainous charge as Orson Krennic, an Imperial operative whose career depends on the successful delivery of the Death Star. But the big news is that Darth Vader will indeed return, in his wheezy-throated, black-masked, chump-strangling prime, and will be voiced by the one and only James Earl Jones. 

Who’s involved behind the scenes? 

The director is Gareth Edwards, whose early films Monsters and Godzilla displayed a knack for blending intense action and convincing character moments – judging by the new trailer, he’s managed to create one of the most visually stunning Star Wars films so far. Even more intriguingly, the script was penned by Bourne franchise veteran Tony Gilroy. If this all sounds like a recipe for rather un-Star Wars-y darkness, that’s reportedly what Disney thought, too. About a Boy screenwriter Chris Weitz was brought in to pen some late-in-the-day reshoots, allegedly to cheer the film up a bit.  

Which planets do we visit? 

At least two new ones. Jedha is a dusty desert moon that contains one of the most ancient Jedi temples, rumoured to be the source of the Kyber crystals the Jedi use to make lightsabers. Scarif is its polar opposite, a paradise of beaches and oceans (until stormtroopers start shooting up the place). 

Okay, so that’s the basic stuff out of the way. Now spoiler me. 

Deep spoilers were mercifully rare before it was released in the West, and if you haven’t already torrented a cam copy from the web, here are a few things we will tell you. Galen Erso is a weapons scientist working with the Empire, but leaking info to the Rebels. That’s why his daughter is chosen to lead the incursion. And the family has a history with bad guy Krennick – he saved them from some unspecified disaster when Jyn was young, and has been exploiting Galen’s expertise ever since. It’s been suggested that, since Alden Ehrenreich was cast to play Han Solo in the next Star Wars spinoff about the smuggler’s youthful exploits, he might pop up at some point. Another pretty believable rumour suggests that Rogue One will end a mere ten minutes before the start of Star Wars so that’d mean potential cameos from Leia, C-3PO and R2-D2. 

Okay, I’m sold. Bring on January 6! 

We’ll see you at the front of the ticket queue. 

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is on general release in China from Friday 6.