Report: Cassian Andor series to film starting in June

The Disney+ Cassian Andor series will begin shooting in June, Discussing Film reports. The series, a prequel to Rogue One, will star Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk (K-2SO) reprising their film roles.

They’re also looking to cast two younger versions of Cassian – at 9 and 13 – plus his 9-year-old sister, the site says.

We heard in October that one of Rogue One’s writers, Tony Gilroy, had joined the series. Stephen Schiff (The Americans) is the showrunner.

The Obi-Wan series also begins filming this summer, so it’s anyone’s guess as to which will make it to Disney+ first. But we can probably expect the second season of The Mandalorian first, as it’s currently filming.

Kenobi series confirmed, Mandalorian trailer finally drops!

The Obi-Wan Kenobi series with Ewan McGregor is an official go for Disney+, and we finally have a proper trailer for The Mandalorian!

The Obi-Wan series is “close,” with the scripts written, and it will begin filming next year, as will the Cassian series. Obi-Wan is set eight years after Revenge of the Sith.

And we also got a date for The Clone Wars: February 2020.

There’s also a trailer for Disney+ as a whole, which leans heavily on the old heartstrings:

Report: The Americans’ Stephen Schiff to run Cassian show

Deadline is reporting that Lucasfilm is bringing on Stephen Schiff as showrunner for the Rogue One prequel series that will star Diego Luna as Rebel spy Cassian Andor. They also say that the production has hired writers. The show is expected to begin production next year.

Schiff was an executive producer of The Americans, the FX spy drama that co-starred Episode IX’s Keri Russell. He also wrote 9 episodes of the series.

The Cassian show is the second live-action Star Wars series announced for the streaming service Disney+. The first, Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian, is currently in production.

Cassian Andor series coming to Disney’s streaming service (which now has a name)

A second Star Wars live action series is coming to the newly-named streaming service Disney+ – and it will star a familiar character, Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor from Rogue One.

The series, which will go into production next year, follows the adventures of rebel spy Cassian Andor during the formative years of the Rebellion and prior to the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Diego Luna will reprise the role of Andor. “Going back to the Star Wars universe is very special for me,” said Luna. “I have so many memories of the great work we did together and the relationships I made throughout the journey. We have a fantastic adventure ahead of us, and this new exciting format will give us the chance to explore this character more deeply.”

The “rousing spy thriller” doesn’t have a release date yet – just like The Mandalorian. Disney+ is expected to launch next year. A website for the service is now live, where fans can sign up to receive updates.

Today in Rogue One: Behind the red carpet, weapons, and fashion

The Star Wars Show goes behind the scenes at the Rogue One red carpet and takes a look at the film’s weapons.


→ Entertainment Weekly has a roundup of the major publication reviews. They’re a little more mixed than seems the standard, but there are honestly so many reviews out there that I lost track. (Lots of “best Star Wars since Empire!” Again. A new yearly tradition?)

→ Speaking of traditions, Lining Up is still at it (and sold out,) though only for 48 hours this time.

→ Ben Mendelsohn is all about the cape. The real world fashion is all over the blogs: Although they think she started strong, Tom and Lorenzo are increasing disappointed in Felicity Jone’s dresses. (And the men get dinged for showing up in jeans while she’s in full formalwear, which is pretty par for the course.) The Fug Girls cast a wider, but less critical, net. No one likes the lavender.

→ FYI, I know the film was shown in some international markets today, and I’ll have a discussion post up on the site tomorrow, just ahead of the first U.S. showings at 7 p.m. EDT.

Today in Rogue One: (Almost) everyone’s on The Star Wars Show


ro-teaser1-stardestroyerThe cast was on The Star Wars Show! And here’s even more interviews: Gareth Edwards on how they filmed the X-wing battle. John Knoll is also talking space battles and the full-size X-wings and the (not so full-sized) Star Destroyer models. Ben Mendelsohn on where Krennic ranks on the Star Wars villain scale and addresses his relationship with Tarkin. And finally, Mads Mikkelsen on fighting Darth Vader.

→ Entertainment Weekly’s Anthony Breznican on the origins of K-2SO. Speaking of the Brez, check out his interview on the latest Steele Wars, a must-listen for anyone curious about Star Wars journalism.

→ The film has a release date in China: January 6, 2017.

→ More takes on the Rogue One press event from /Film and Fangirl Blog.

→ Shockingly, Reddit Neo-Nazis are pissed about Rogue One. More seats for us, dude.

Today in Rogue One: Hey, was that…?

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Twitter had a nice freak-out this afternoon as a ship resembling the Ghost from the Star Wars Rebels cartoon was spotted in a new TV commercial. (There’s more evidence on the Tumblr.) Easter egg? Cameo? Only time will tell.

And that was only one of several new commercials dropped today. Here’s one, and here’s one and here’s one that’s actually on the official site and in high res! Of course it’s the one with the least new footage.

Speaking of new footage, there are two new scenes as well: One with Orson Krennic and Galen Erso (which seems to answer a question I asked in my Catalyst review) and another from the call sign scene. There’s also a new Chinese trailer, introduced by Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen.

ro-cassian-vert→ So many more interviews today! John Knoll on how they approached the film and changes to Darth Vader’s costume. Gareth Edwards addresses the reshoots and George Lucas’ review. Riz Ahmed on being an ‘average Joe’ in the GFFA. And finally, Diego Luna on his research into being a soldier and why Cassian isn’t a typical hero. He’s really happy to be here, you guys.

→ Could something in the background of the recent creature featurette have given us a hint at that mysterious kneeling scene from the very first teaser?

→ Thanks to both The Force Awakens and Rogue One, Star Wars was Twitter’s top trending movie topic of 2016.

→ Here’s Epcot’s Spaceship Earth being transformed into the Death Star.

→ A new Rogue One collection launched at Hot Topic and Torrid today. I’m not sure this one really translates…

Rogue One emojjis are now in the Star Wars app!

Today in Rogue One: The first 28 minutes, new clips

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Some journalists got a look at the first 28 minutes of Rogue One last night, and USA Today’s Brian Truitt is surprisingly forthcoming about what he saw. The veil of secrecy is so thin this time! (Yes, that’s a spoiler warning.) Underworld rounds up some more reactions.

→ A good portion of the Rogue One cast – Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, Alan Tudyk, Ben Mendelsohn, and Mads Mikkelsen, plus director Gareth Edwards – will appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live on December 9. Some of The Force Awakens cast did a similar appearance last year, so expect it to go something like this.

→ Even more clips! There’s a new TV spot, a Jyn featurette and a scene at the Yavin base featuring a familiar face.

Cast, director Gareth Edwards talk Rogue One live on Twitter, Facebook

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The live Rogue One event on Twitter turned out to be, basically, a live press conference at Lucasfilm. In attendance were director Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, and Alan Tudyk.

Here’s the chat:


The new scene:


And the Lucasfilm tour, which was quite honestly the highlight of the whole thing:


They also did a Facebook chat yesterday. The highlight? Gareth Edwards stole the Death Star plans.