While the Jedi, the Force and Luke Skywalker's whereabouts had been the tantalising components of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens', 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' will deliver a slightly different flavour. Set into a timeline between 'Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith' and 'Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope', this first standalone movie from the 'Star Wars Anthology' series will focus on a heist by resistance fighters to steal the Death Star's blueprints. The theft of the plans to the battle station was first alluded to in the opening of 'Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'.
Not too many Force-users are expected to make an appearance, but Darth Vader (possibly), Felicity Jones of 'Theory of Everything','Ip Man' Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen of 'Hannibal',Forest Whitaker and Diego Luna are joining Gareth Edwards of 'Godzilla' in this film.
It appears, however, that LucasFilm is going for authenticity. Besides a return to good old Bedfordshire in the UK, which was a setting for Episode IV scenes in 1976, the production now also involves a few genuine war experts.
After a full day of convincing that they were not being reeled into a gag show frame-up, a few real-life members of the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy and the Army Air Corps Apache chopper unit agreed to take on the job as extras: "When our Officer Commanding asked us if we wanted to be an extra in the next film during a morning brief, nobody put their hands up. We all thought it must be a wind-up. It took him most of the day to convince us that he really did know someone who was looking for a body of men to mill around in the background and do what they were told."
A teaser trailer for this film made the rounds after the 2015 Star Wars Celebration - and are still making the rounds on YouTube - but with the successful reception to 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' anticipation for the 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' opening on December 16, 2016 will undoubtedly build to fever-pitch. In the meantime, the whole world waits for 'Star Wars Episode 8'.
