Amongst all the Artoos, Reys and giant AT-ATs, the first day of Star Wars Celebration Europe was all about Rogue One. With only a teaser trailer to-date, details surrounding the first Star Wars standalone – based around the plans to steal the Death Star’s blueprints – have been kept pretty much under lock and key thus far. So how much would director Gareth Edwards reveal once he took to the Celebration Stage?
Hosted by Gwendoline ‘Phasma’ Christie, the show properly started once Ben Mendelsohn had brought the house down with his unique, Australian march, flanked by his unique band of ‘troopers. That man sure knows how to rock a cape. “[Australians] do villainy very well. [Director Krennic] is smarter, I think, than most of his predecessors, he’s more inventive. He’s perhaps more sexy than some, not as sexy as some of the others. That’s all I’ve got.” Well, that’s better than nothing, Ben.
Gareth Edwards was slightly looser with his tongue, however, sharing a poster and confirming Darth Vader’s presence – those inside were lucky enough to see a teaser clip starring a young Jyn (presumably) and Vader’s reflection with his signature heavy breathing. Mads Mikkelsen was also able to confirm that his character, Galen Erso, is indeed Jyn’s (Felicity Jones) father. So none of that ‘wondering who Rey’s father is’ malarkey this time around, then…
There may also have been a slight slip of the tongue from Jiang Wen regarding the fate of another character, but due to his rather broken English, we’re not willing to speculate on something which hasn’t yet been confirmed.
With the eight main cast all in attendance, Christie was able to get a nugget or two from each actor. Felicity Jones spoke passionately about the major difference between Jyn Erso and other Star Wars characters: “she’s not a character who’s asking, ‘who am I and where have I come from?’ We know that about her and that fact is what propels the story and the beginning of Jyn’s journey.”
Forest Whitaker talked of how his guerrilla and Jedi-trained Saw Gerrera will “do what he needs to do in order to save the world,” with Riz Ahmed’s Bodhi Rock a pilot who begrudgingly “works for the Empire to earn a living”. Mads Mikkelsen’s Galen “at one point created something so beautiful, so fantastic that it might change the universe,” and Diego Luna’s Captain Cassian Andor is this film’s droid-keeper.
The droid in question, K-2SO, just might be the most fascinating new character in Rogue One. Played by Alan Tudyk and reprogrammed by Andor, Tudyk describes him as “seven foot and black, which is really my inner person! He was reprogrammed and ‘not all there’. He can say things that are unsettling and honest; if you know old people, he’s like that.” We got to see K-2SO in action during the panel’s sizzle reel, which upped the action and appears to be taking the franchise in a very different direction. Stormtroopers on a beach, anyone?
“This has been the most insane, surreal experience you could ever have,” Gareth Edwards told his eager crowd. The pressure’s so high: if you don’t take a risk, then what are you bringing to the table?” To paraphrase Felicity Jones’ Jyn, 'may the force be with him'.
