Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, and Mads Mikkelsen officially join the cast of "Star Wars: Rogue One". As a part of this year's D23 Expo, Lucasfilm has also unveiled the movie's Death Star plot line which was hinted in the opening scene of "Star Wars: A New Hope". The first anthology film is due out December, next year.
During Disney's D23 Expo 2015 in Anaheim, California, Disney and Lucasfilm have revealed that Ben Mendelsohn ("Bloodline"), Mads Mikkelsen ("Hannibal"), and Forest Whitaker ("Taken 3") will appear in the upcoming "Star Wars" spinoff. The three actors will now join the previously announced cast members which include Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Alan Tudyk and Riz Ahmed.
Officially titled as 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story", Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy says it takes place before the events of "Star Wars: A New Hope" and will be a departure from the saga films. According to Entertainment Weekly, it will focus on the event that was hinted in the 1977 film where Princess Leia's hologram spoke about a team of resistance fighters. It was noted that the group was said to have risked their lives to steal the plans for the Death Star, which were later destroyed by Luke Skywalker.
"Rogue One" has already commenced its production in Pinewood Studios in the UK just this month. As previously reported, the 2014 "Godzilla" director Gareth Edwards is helming the film based on a script written by veteran "Star Wars" visual effects supervisor John Knoll, "About a Boy" screenwriter Chris Weitz, and "The Book of Eli" scriptwriter Gary Whitta. Academy Award-winning composer Alexander Desplat ("The Grand Budapest") will provide the musical score of the upcoming movie.
Edward's "Rogue One" will be the first of the numerous spinoff films set in the "Star Wars" universe. It will be followed by the young Han Solo film and the Bobba Fett story. The latter however, still has no confirmation from Disney.
"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" is expected to open in cinemas on December 16, 2016.
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