Following the cover reveal this morning, EW is back with more details on the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story characters. You can check out portraits of each new Rogue One character in the gallery and read all about them below.
First up is Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso, about whom Lucasfilm president and Rogue One producer Kathleen Kennedy says: “She’s got a checkered past. She has been detained [by the Rebellion] and is being given an opportunity to be useful. And by being useful, it may commute her sentence.”
Next is Diego Luna’s Captain Cassian Andor, who is described as a “by-the-book Rebel intelligence officer” who is “committed, steady, and practical, and has seen more than his share of combat.” “He conveys a fair amount of experience and the reality of what it’s like to do this every day, to try to figure out how to resist the Empire effectively and intelligently,” Kiri Hart, Lucasfilm’s chief of story development said of the character. “It’s not easy.”
Donnie Yen’s Chirrut Imwe, pronounced chi-RUT, is perhaps the most interesting new addition as it’s been revealed he’s not actually a jedi but a man “devoted to their ways” who has used his spiritual beliefs to overcome his own physical handicap of blindness. “Chirrut falls into the category of being a warrior monk,” says Kennedy. “He very much still believes in everything the Jedi were about.”
Next we have Jiang Wen’s Baze Malbus, who is described as “heavily armored” and a loyal friend of Chirrut, while Riz Ahmed’s Bodhi Rook is the lead pilot of the group, described as “hot-headed” by Lucasfilm.
Alan Tudyk’s motion capture character K-2SO is described as “the antithesis of C-3PO” by Gareth Edwards. “Kaytoo is a little bit like Chewbacca’s personality in a droid’s body,” Edwards says. “He doesn’t give a s— about what you think. He doesn’t fully check himself before he says things and does things. He just speaks the truth.”
Mads Mikkelsen’s Galen Erso, the estranged father of Jyn, is described as the Star Wars version of the father of nuclear weapons, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the kind of scientist that both the Rebellion and Empire are eager to use to their advantage. “He’s one of those people that has insight into you know specific aspects of just how the universe works,” says Hart. The picture of Mikkelsen below isn’t his actual costume in the film, which Lucasfilm isn’t yet ready to reveal.
Ben Mendelsohn’s Director Orson Krennic is the primarily villain of the film, who we now know is the leader of the Deathtroopers previously seen in the teaser trailer. The outlet reveals that he’s hoping to squash the Rebels with his soldiers to gain favor with the Emperor, all while “avoiding the wrath” of Darth Vader. “The bad guy is a lot more terrifying when he’s really smart, and really effective,” says executive producer John Knoll. “There is a lot of palace intrigue going on in the Empire, with people conspiring to move up the ranks and sabotaging each other. There’s not a lot of loyalty there.”
Finally, we have Forest Whitaker’s character, whose name has not yet been revealed but is said to be someone Star Wars fans will “recognize immediately” when his name is known, despite that he looks quite different from how he has previously been seen in Star Wars canon.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set for release on December 16, 2016. Stay tuned for new photos tomorrow!
