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There's another Star Wars movie on the way this December - here's all we know about it so far

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be the first of many planned spin-off movies from the main film franchise.

1 Disney An official Rogue One cast photo Disney Disney

WE’RE 11 MONTHS from the premiere of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but that hasn’t stopped fans from breathlessly sleuthing for details about the next movie in the franchise.

The title for the first film in the Star Wars anthology series was announced in March, along with news that Felicity Jones was the first to be cast and that the anticipated release date was 16 December, 2016.

Since then, very little information has been released, but we’ve compiled what we do know for now — along with a few popular rumors — to hold us over until the first trailer is finally released.

Here is everything we know so far about Rogue One:

The film is the first in the “Star Wars Anthology”, a series of standalone films, which will include movies dedicated to Han Solo and bounty hunter Boba Fett.

2 Disney Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios, took part in Worlds, Galaxies, and Universes: Live Action at The Walt Disney Studios presentation at Disney's D23 Expo 2015 Disney Disney

Gareth Edwards, known for the 2014 Godzilla reboot, will direct the film.

gareth edwards Gareth Edwards on the set of Godzilla Kimberley French / Warner Bros Kimberley French / Warner Bros / Warner Bros

The script was written by Chris Weitz (About a Boy), based on an idea from visual-effects supervisor John Knoll. Gary Whitta (After Earth) was originally hired to write the screenplay, but he left the project after writing the first draft.

27th Santa Barbara International Film Festival - California AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

The film will take place before the events of 1977′s A New Hope and focus on a group of resistance fighters who attempt to steal the plans for the Empire’s newest weapon, the Death Star.

4 starwars Lucasfilm Lucasfilm

Source: StarWars.com

Gareth Edwards confirmed that it would be a “war movie” and that the Jedi would be absent from the film.

5 The absence of the Jedi hangs over the movie, Edwards said. So don't expect any Jedi lessons like Yoda taught Luke Star Wars / Lucasfilm Star Wars / Lucasfilm / Lucasfilm

Source: /Film

Knoll got the idea from a line in the opening crawl of Star Wars, also known as A New Hope. The line reads: “During the battle, rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Death Star …”

6 Lucasfilm Lucasfilm

Source: Wired

Felicity Jones will be a rebel soldier and was the first person cast in the film. The rest of the cast was announced during Disney’s D23 expo and includes Riz Ahmed, Diego Luna, Jiang Wen, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, Donnie Yen, and Alan Tudyk.

1 Disney Disney Disney

Source: Tech Insider

Alan Tudyk will play a motion-capture character in Rogue One.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens European Premiere - London Ian West Ian West

Source: StarWars.com

Not much is known about the characters, but Donnie Yen described his to The Hollywood Reporter as “good and benevolent”.

Hong Kong Donnie Yen AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Mads Mikkelsen also revealed that his character was a “very important role” and “not a bad guy”.

67th Cannes Film Festival - The Salvation Photocall

Source: Cinema Blend

Academy Award-winning composer Alexandre Desplat (Argo, The King’s Speech) is composing the score.

The 87th Academy Awards - Press Room - Los Angeles PA Archive / Press Association Images PA Archive / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

The film was primarily shot at Pinewood Studios in the UK.

7 StarWars / Twitter StarWars / Twitter / Twitter

Mads Mikkelsen also confirmed that the film would partially be shot in Iceland, where parts of The Force Awakens were shot — particularly for scenes on the Starkiller Base.

8 Northern Lights near Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland Flickr / qfwfq78 Flickr / qfwfq78 / qfwfq78

Source: Cinema Blend

The film began principal photography in August 2015 and will be released on 16 December, 2016, almost exactly a year after the premiere of The Force Awakens.

9 The Force Awakens poster image Disney Disney

Source: StarWars.com

Rogue One was recently named the most anticipated movie of 2016 in a survey conducted by Fandango.

10 John Boyega as Finn is pumped up manning the weapons on the Millennium Falcon in The Force Awakens. Disney Disney

Source: Fandango

TMZ leaked photos of what appears to be a classic X-wing on the set of Rogue One, similar to the fighter Luke Skywalker flies in the original trilogy, which also happens to be used to destroy the Death Star.

11 Since the film takes place before the events of A New Hope, reverting back to an older version of the X-wing makes sense Lucasfilm Lucasfilm

Source: TMZ

16 TMZ TMZ

Other photos leaked from the set show what appears to be a crashed X-wing. Whether the photos of the ship released by TMZ are supposed to be this potentially crashed fighter are unknown, as are the reasons for the possible crash.

12 An X-Wing from The Force Awakens. Disney Disney

Source: Geek.com

RUMOR: One theory says the young Han Solo — who is getting his own anthology film — will make a cameo in the movie.

13 Casting choices for the young Solo have been narrowed down, and since the Han Solo film isn't coming out until 2018, some folks think we might get a glimpse sooner rather than later Lucasfilm Lucasfilm

Source: Variety

RUMOR: Diego Luna will play Biggs Darklighter, Luke Skywalker’s childhood friend who perished during the Battle of Yavin in A New Hope.

Source: Cinema Blend

RUMOR: Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and Grand Moff Tarkin will appear in the movie.

14 Peter Cushing, the actor who portrayed Tarkin, died in 1994, so rumor has it that he could be resurrected through CGI and archive footage. Or he could simply be recast if they do include him Lucasfilm Lucasfilm

RUMOR: We don’t even have a name for Felicity Jones’ character, but some folks theorize that the young rebel fighter is the daughter of infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett.

15 Hey, it might not be true, but it makes for a nice pairing with all the Rey theories. Lucasfilm Screencap Lucasfilm Screencap

Source: /Film

- Anjelica Oswald

Read: These photos of the US Army’s 2015 need to be seen to be believed…

Read: This car was turned into a giant ice sculpture after its owner parked it by a freezing lake

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    Mute NO 2 FF/FG/LAB
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    Jan 16th 2016, 6:41 PM

    Godzilla remake sucked, I’d be skeptical of that director

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    Mute Lad
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    Jan 17th 2016, 1:38 AM
    13
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    Mute vv7k7Z3c
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    Jan 17th 2016, 10:43 AM

    A couple of things, Lad.

    1. This is syndicated from Business Insider.
    2. The BI piece was posted on the 13th: http://uk.businessinsider.com/star-wars-rogue-one-news-2016-1
    3. The piece you linked to was posted on the 14: http://www.unilad.co.uk/movies/everything-we-know-about-the-next-star-wars-movie-rogue-one/

    So….

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    Mute Lad
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    Jan 17th 2016, 7:30 PM

    So yes.

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    Mute John Dullaghan
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    Jan 16th 2016, 6:11 PM

    How can you have a star wars film with no Jedi.

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    Mute Matty Reese
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    Jan 16th 2016, 6:21 PM

    They could have Ezra, Kanaan or Snips, they are all still alive in Star wars rebels. It would be an easier way to kill them off than in a cartoon.

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    Mute Dave Meagher
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    Jan 16th 2016, 6:23 PM

    Simple it’s about space ships and explosions.

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    Mute Lurfic
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    Jan 16th 2016, 6:51 PM

    It’s called Star Wars not Jedi wars.

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    Mute Johnneary
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    Jan 16th 2016, 7:57 PM

    What’s with all these military women playing the lead?
    With story lines where the military men are emasculated weakling blubbering pansies?
    Where is this going?
    What is this farcical agenda trying to achieve?

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    Mute Matty Reese
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    Jan 16th 2016, 10:32 PM

    Do you not like women?

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    Mute Joe Dobias
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    Jan 18th 2016, 12:49 AM

    Sex sells. Doesn’t matter how much of it. It just sells.

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    Mute Keelan O'neill
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    Jan 16th 2016, 6:30 PM

    Enough is enough. I’ve had with these motherf***ing Death Stars in motherf***ing space.

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    Mute Paul Wallace
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    Jan 16th 2016, 7:36 PM

    Another feminist Star Wars film, no thanks

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    Mute ads20101
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    Jan 16th 2016, 7:00 PM

    Looks amazing – can’t wait :)

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    Mute Brendan
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    Jan 16th 2016, 7:31 PM

    No just no, not this whole Star Wars all over again, the last one wasn’t even that good, more hype than anything

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    Mute Little Diddy No
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    Jan 16th 2016, 8:00 PM

    The Force Awakens was so bad, that this new one surely can only be better.

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    Mute Joe McCormac
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    Jan 16th 2016, 8:10 PM

    Saw it a couple of times in the cineworld IMAX over Christmas. Thought it was brilliant.
    Great escapism with a big bag of popcorn and straight to the Gin Palace afterwards.
    Can’t wait for the next one. And of course Avatar next Christmas.

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    Mute Alan Moynihan
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    Jan 16th 2016, 10:33 PM

    Avatar 2 is in 2017

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    Mute Alan O'connor
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    Jan 16th 2016, 7:02 PM

    Thanks but no thanks. Lucas sold himself out to Disney and now they’re going to collect. Episode 7 was all but a remake of episode 4 and they made a fortune on it. I’m off this merry go round.

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    Mute Pharmyco
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    Jan 16th 2016, 7:15 PM

    Damn right, I wanted a movie with trade negotiations and CGI muppets like George wanted to give us.

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    Mute Joe Bloggs
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    Jan 16th 2016, 7:19 PM

    Couldn’t agree more….that bunch of anti-semites at Disney have enough dosh they’ll not get a shekel from me!!!

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    Mute Little Diddy No
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    Jan 16th 2016, 8:02 PM

    It was dire alright and I was so looking forward to it!

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    Mute Colm Hennessy
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    Jan 16th 2016, 8:14 PM

    Pretty amused by the small number of guys on here whinging about female leads in these movies.

    If your sense of masculinity is so easily threatened, then the issue lies with you as opposed to the media you chose to consume.

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    Mute Cal Cryton
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    Jan 17th 2016, 10:32 AM

    Colm i’ve seen those comments also and while i don’t in any way find my masculinity threatened by this, i also care passionately about the truth. It is true that many recent blockbuster movies have featured female leads in military type roles. That doesn’t correlate with actual historical human experience, so i also wonder the same, is there an agenda? Again, i only care about truth.

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    Mute Colm Hennessy
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    Jan 17th 2016, 10:43 AM

    Fair enough.

    I really don’t care about truth in these movies.

    These are movies where space wizards fly about in spaceships at relativistic speeds while blowing up guns the size of planets, all the while being tended to by surprisingly compliant robot slaves. Realism is the last thing on my mind when watching Star Wars.

    So if we leave aside the odd imposition of reality into the fantastic (“FTL travel? Sure! Female warriors though? Too much!”), women make up half the population. Through the history of movies, they’ve been a tiny proportion of protagonists in movies. Honestly, we could have men in zero movies for a few years before we’d address that balance.

    The best actor for the role, that should be the principle. Reys gender was not an issue within the narrative of The Force Awakens. She was simply the main character, and it didn’t matter if she had a penis or not. It only became an issue to viewers.

    Sorry, but realism just isn’t relevant here.

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    Mute Cal Cryton
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    Jan 17th 2016, 11:05 AM

    I meant truth in terms of whether there’s a specific agenda to put females in such military style leadership roles on screen…the “truth” im referring to is not how realistic the movies themselves are.

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    Mute Colm Hennessy
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    Jan 17th 2016, 11:45 AM

    I’d imagine there’s a push towards a more representative sample of protagonists. That’s just business sense, and again widens the appeal to the greater population.

    But you’re kind of asking if there’s some sort of push towards women in specifically military roles. I can’t say I’ve noticed. More female protagonists generally in movies, sure.

    Besides, Rey wasn’t military in the slightest. She was a scavenger with force abilities who grew up playing on the Millenium Falcon and was trained to fight with a stick.

    Probably worth noting that Princess Leia was far more “military”, and that was back in the 1970s. So it’s hardly a modern thing.

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    Mute Oran Joyce
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    Jan 16th 2016, 7:18 PM

    More endless hype.

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    Mute Tordelback
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    Jan 16th 2016, 7:41 PM

    And clicking on this article was your cunning plan for avoiding it…?

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    Mute Yanuary Dry
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    Jan 16th 2016, 6:58 PM

    Looks sh*+

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    Mute Matty Reese
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    Jan 16th 2016, 7:44 PM

    Well don’t watch it then, its not compulsory viewing.

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    Mute Del Haven
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    Jan 17th 2016, 1:46 AM

    It certainly is!

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    Mute Mer Curial
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    Jan 17th 2016, 2:53 AM

    Many Bothans are going to die in this movie….

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    Mute Pharmyco
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    Jan 16th 2016, 7:08 PM

    I hope the rebels use a firefly class spaceship

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    Mute seanie
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    Jan 16th 2016, 9:15 PM

    Not sure about the spin-offs i might wait for the DVD release. I’ll stick to the main franchise . I hope they don’t do one year a spinoff the next year the main installment and so forth.

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    Mute Joseph Bent
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    Jan 17th 2016, 8:48 AM

    What’s a DVD?

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    Mute Joe Bloggs
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    Jan 16th 2016, 7:17 PM

    Please…..shoot me now…. Fupp off ….

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