One of the things most fans were impressed with as soon asStar Wars: The Force Awakensstarted production last year was directorJ.J. Abrams' commitment to practical effects. Instead of green-screen backdrops and CGI creations, the filmmaker opted to honor the original trilogy, employing practical creature effects and shooting on massive sets, as opposed to the digitally-created world of the much-maligned prequel trilogy. It seems this tradition is continuing with the first spinoff, directorGareth Edwards’Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which started production in London back in August. While promoting his new web seriesCon Man,Rogue OnestarAlan Tudykpraised the production for creating a “physical world.”
“You are amazed at what you’re able to look at, because it is a physical world. If there are creatures, then there are creatures; if there are spaceships, then there are spaceships. It’s not huge swaths of green hung from the rafters. You have it all there, and if you don’t have it there then you go fly some place that does.”
All we know aboutRogue One: A Star Wars Storyso far is that it will follow a group of Rebels embarking on a mission to steal plans for the originalDeath Star. The identity ofAlan Tudyk’s character has not yet been revealed, but the officialcast announcementfrom August revealed that he is playing a “performance-capture character.” Regardless of who he plays, the actor is surrounded by a stellar and diverse cast that includesFelicity Jones,Mads Mikkelsen,Ben Mendelsohn,Diego Luna,Forest Whitaker,Donnie Yen,Riz Ahmed,Jonathan ArisandWen Jiang.
Gareth Edwardsis directing from a script byChris Weitz, who rewrote the original draft byGary Whitta, which was based on a story idea crafted by veteran ILM visual effects supervisor John Knoll. Disney and LucasFilm have set a December 16, 2016release datefor this spinoff, which is set between the events ofStar Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the SithandStar Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. There has been speculation that characters from the animated TV seriesStar Wars Rebelsmay show up in this movie, since both projects are set within the same timeline.
Since principal photography is still under way onRogue One: A Star Wars Story, it isn’t known when the first trailer may arrive.Alan Tudyk’s praise of the physical sets shouldn’t be too surprising, since the first cast photo released in August showcased several of the characters on a massive set, with no green-screen in sight. What do you think about these newRogue One: A Star Wars Storydetails? Stay tuned for more on this highly-anticipated spinoff as we get closer and closer to its June 29, 2025 release date.
