Last weekend, the latest proper details emerged about the first of what are now known as the Star Wars: Anthology films, with Gareth Edwards revealing some information about Rogue One. Today brings news that Riz Ahmed and Sam Claflin are at different stages of talks to join the cast.
Rogue One, which already has Felicity Jones officially aboard – she’s apparently playing a Rebel Alliance soldier – is set in between Episodes III and IV and features a plot to steal the secrets of the first Death Star. “It’s basically in an era where there are no Jedi, where they’re all but extinct. It’s about the fact that God’s not coming to save us. We’re on our own and we have to do this ourselves,” Edwards has said of the movie. “The absence of Jedi is omnipresent in the film, it hangs over the whole movie. It comes down to a group of individuals who don’t have special powers but have to bring hope and justice to the galaxy.”
Ben Mendelsohn is close to a deal, reportedly to be a villain, while Ahmed and Claflin are circling more heroic roles, but nothing has naturally been confirmed yet. We do know, however, that the film will be with us on December 16, 2016.
Ahmed, last seen in Nightcrawler, is shooting London-set noir **City Of Tiny Lights. Claflin, who was in** The Riot Club**, returns to the world of The Hunger Games as Finnick Odair for Mockingjay – Part 2, out on November 20.
For eveything we know about Rogue One, read our complete guide.