After months of rumors, we finally have official details about the first Star Wars spinoff. Felicity Jones will star in Gareth Edward's Rogue One!
Disney's Bob Iger revealed the information to a shareholder meeting in San Francisco today. But here's the official press release, which also confirms Jones' involvement (but we knew that already):
Rogue One is the title for the first film in a unique series of big-screen adventures that explores the characters and events beyond the core Star Wars saga. Rogue One will be directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla) and written by Oscar nominee Chris Weitz (Cinderella, About a Boy, Antz). The first actress cast is Felicity Jones, who garnered an Academy Award nomination and critical acclaim for her performance in The Theory of Everything. The idea for the story of Rogue One came from John Knoll, an Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer at Industrial Light & Magic. He will executive produce along with Simon Emanuel (The Dark Knight Rises, Fast & Furious 6) and Jason McGatlin (Tintin, War of the Worlds). Kathleen Kennedy and Tony To (Band of Brothers, The Pacific) are on board to produce and John Swartz (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) will co-produce. The film starts shooting this summer in London and is due for release on December 16, 2016.
There are no story details just yet, and honestly the only new information is the fact that filming will begin this Summer, and that the movie now has a release date: December 16th 2016, almost exactly a year after The Force Awakens.
But considering "Rogue One" is the callsign used by the leader of the Rebel Alliance's Rogue Squadron of elite pilots — Both Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back and later Wedge Antilles in the Expanded Universe took the title — there stands a good chance Gareth Edward's movie doesn't focus around Bounty Hunters as previously thought. Is Felicity Jones the new Rogue Leader? Speculate away!
