Please take this bushel of Rogue One links


Rogue One is all over the place, so let’s mop this up before more comes along. Above, the Rogue One VHS commercial by Damien Kazan.

→ Gareth Edwards shares some (ancient) Jedha history, about how the city got it’s high density of kyber crystals.

→ Entertainment Weekly’s final infodump on all the scenes that weren’t, Dantooine not making the cut, cameos and plot holes..

John Knoll is nursing another spinoff idea, but he’s not sure if he’ll pitch it.

Mads Mikkelsen on how much of Galen’s backstory he knew, Felicity Jones, Oppenheimer and more.

→ A look at a featurettes about Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen, Saw Gerrera.

Christopher Scarabosio and Matthew Wood talk about the film’s sound.

→ Gareth Edwards on Darth Vader’s final scene.

Today in Rogue One: Hear a preview of Michael Giacchino’s score

Entertainment Weekly brought us our first listen of Michael Giacchino’s Rogue One score. I’m not really much of a score junkie, but it sounds good! If you want to dig a little deeper, the full track listing has been spotted. There are few intriguing things there, so take it as you will.

→ Chatting about Columbia’s Rogue One jackets with the brand’s director of apparel design, Debra Criss. These are really some of the most impressive clothing tie-ins we’ve seen with this film, so it’s nice to learn more.

→ There’s been some pretty ridiculous stuff running around Twitter regarding an “anti-Trump” message being inserted into Rogue One at the last minute. While Star Wars has never shied away from some pointed commentary, the timeline alone here makes that deeply unrealistic. And in any case, certain themes have been baked in since the start. I expect this boycott will bear about as much fruit as the last one did.

→ The interviews: Gareth Edwards on diversity, reshoots and the “team sport” method of Star Wars (and/or filmmaking in general.) Riz Ahmed raps. The Wrap calls Donnie Yen “the perfect breakout star for 2017” and he tells Mashable “Give me a lightsaber, you wouldn’t have two hours of storytelling.”

→ A quick guide to the Star Wars books, films and TV you may want to catch up on before Rogue One.

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.

Today in Rogue One: New footage, interviews and… jackets?

Rogue One Live starts up shortly, and we’ll have another post when it’s done, but here’s a few other things that have popped up:

ro-2takes→ How much of Rogue One have we seen, anyway? Eleven-ThirtyEight explores.

→ More from Gareth Edwards on George Lucas’ visit to the set and if certain characters will appear

Felicity Jones beats up Jimmy Fallon and shows a brand-new clip featuring Jyn, Cassian and K-2SO.

→ Columbia Sportswear will be offering three Rogue One-inspired jackets in a limited edition collection. They’re inspired by Jyn, Cassian, and the deathtrooper armor.

Donnie Yen honored at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood; Diego Luna talks abut meeting Darth Vader.

Today in Rogue One: Behind-the-scenes shots, Donnie Yen, new posters

ro-bts-swaStar Wars Aficionado got their hands on some new behind the scenes shots from Rogue One.

→ Jetset magazine has an interview with Donnie Yen, where he talks about initially turning down Rogue One and how it was his idea to make Chirrut blind. Though no, the character still isn’t Force-sensitive. (via)

→ On Twitter: Two new posters for Mexico and Latin America and a pair of behind the scenes shots from filming at the Canary Wharf tube station.

Today in Rogue One: Alan Tudyk on K-2SO, Databank updates and more

ro-k-2so-cropAlan Tudyk drops some details on his Rogue One character, the droid K-2SO, over at Entertainment Weekly. He adresses Kaytoo’s past as an Imperial security droid, his accent, and his relationship with Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor, and even describes a scene – or part of one, anyway. EW this week has also covered the planet Jedha and spoke to Riz Ahmed about his character Bodhi Rook.

→ Speaking of Bodhi, Birth Movie Death’s Siddhant Adlakha looks at what the character and the casting bode for the new era of Star Wars being more inclusive.

→ A whole bunch of Rogue One stuff has shown up in the StarWars.com Databank. Most noteably, we learn that Jedha is “small desert moon frosted by a permanent winter” and “home to one of the first civilizations to explore the nature of the Force.” We also learn what Orson Krennic is director of, more about the death troopers and where Saw Gerrera has been hanging out. Also up: Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor, Chirrut Imwe, Baze Malbus, Bodhi Rook, K-2SO, shoretroopers, AT-ACTs and Scarif.

→ Donnie Yen talks to Extra about one reason why the Empire may be so interested in Jedha.

Rogue One has an official synopsis. It’s nothing we don’t know already.

SWCE: Rogue One poster, behind-the-scenes clip debuts!


The first surprise at the Rogue One panel was Gwendoline Christie hosting. The second was the poster, and the third is the behind the scenes clip we see above.

ro-posterJohn Knoll revealed that he first came up with the idea of a the story when he first heard rumblings of the live-action series, during the filming of Revenge of the Sith. He put it away when he learned more about George’s concept for the series, and pulled it out again when the spinoffs were announced. Check out the original concept art of the team.

Director Gareth Edwards talking about meeting Mark Hamill (and later, George Lucas!) on set, barely keeping it together.

Edwards also confirmed that the beach planet is named Scarif, and later cast revealed another planet, Jedha. Apparently people make Force-based pilgrimages there – Edwards compared it to Mecca. This appears to be the market planet, and where we meet Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen,) Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen) and Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed.) Edwards had more to say on Jedha in a post-panel interview – it’s certainly an intriguing addition to the galaxy.

We learned a bit more about several characters, including our first look at Mads Mikkelsen’ Galen Erso. He invented something “so fantastic it might change the universe.”

Jones also got her first look at the Jyn Erso action figure direct from Christie. Here’s a closer look at her from the floor:

Ahmed said his pilot character Bodhi works for but is questioning the Empire:

He also got quite a few zings in. On that note, Alan Tudyk also shared what Anthony Danials said when he told him his droid was CGI: “You shit.”

Ben Mendelson called Orson Krennic “smarter” than his Imperial predecessors, and “a little sexier than some of them, not quite as sexy as some of the others,” with a wink to Christie.

Christie concluded the panel with a group selfie:

And now, days later, you can watch it all for yourself!