That didn’t take too long. Roughly a week after the first reports emerged that Gareth Edwards was busy auditioning actors for the cast of the first Star Wars stand-alone film after The Force Awakens, it looks like he’s locked in someone to star. Felicity Jones, who had been on the list of those testing, is now in talks to take a role{
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jones has beaten out the likes of Rooney Mara and Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany for the prime, if mysterious role in the film. Though there were apparent concerns that her busy scheduled might preclude her participation, it appears that diary issues have been ironed out.
Almost nothing official has emerged about the movie itself so far beyond the fact that **Monsters **and Godzilla man Edwards is directing and Chris Weitz was recently hired to rewrite the script based on a first draft by Gary Whitta. Rumours have already swirled about the plot including Boba Fett, a young Han Solo and, just today, the character of Sabine Wren, who is in the animated Star Wars Rebels, was mooted as part of the film. That, of course, by law requires us to sound the klaxon{
Whatever the film is about, Edwards will be kicking things up a gear, preparing to shoot this year ready for a December 16, 2016 release date.