The great new trailer for Rogue One debuted this morning giving us an even closer look at the stakes facing the Rebels against the Empire as they strive to destroy the first Death Star. We also found out a bit more about the story of the film as relationships have been laid bare.
The story focuses on Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is seen as a young girl who must hide from the Empire as her father Galen (Mads Mikkelsen) is secreted away to work on the development of kyber crystals for weaponry other than lightsabers.
Rumors have it that Galen owes a life-debt to Imperial Director Orson Krennec (Ben Mendelsohn) who is an up and coming soldier in the Empire. Galen has to go with the Empire when called, but does not want his daughter to become a pawn in his capture.
Fast-forward about 20 years…Jyn is now a scalawag who has a long rap-sheet after growing up in the streets of Jedda, the home of kyber crystals and the history of the Jedi. What's clear from the new trailer is the Empire has occupied the planet as a signal to the galaxy that the Jedi order has been destroyed and disbanded. The image of a partially buried Jedi monument is eye-catching and symbolic of the impact of the occupation.
The Rebel Alliance in full bluster in Jyn's adulthood, but she still remembers The Empire ripping apart her family. She apparently has no place in either world but is detained by the Rebels for stealing various starship parts. Once Jyn is brought in to a military base to meet Rebel leader Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly), she learns that her father is still alive and that his imprisonment may be the key factor in the development of the Death Star. Jyn is a key figure in finding answers to the secrets needed by the Rebellion.
As Erso and Andor begin their recruitment, Crennec is feeling the pressure of the Grand Moff Tarkin and Lord Darth Vader (James Earl Jones) breathing down his neck to complete construction on the Death Star for an imminent test. The prior trailers seem to suggest that the test on Alderaan may not be the first test of the Death Star. Could Jedda possibly be the initial target?
If you have read the Star Wars novel Bloodline, then you know that the Empire not only occupies planets, but also depletes them of natural resources, destroying the ecological balance of those planets. In that book, Princess Leia's rival in the book, Ransolm Casterfo recounts his life after his home planet Riosa is annexed and its industrial facilities are commandeered for the manufacture of parts and components for the construction of the first Death Star. A logical conclusion could be that Jedda is another Imperial depot making it an easy target for the Death Star testing.
The trailer suggests that the Rebels will have a few run-ins with the Empire on the way to infiltrating the Death Star. By this time, Erso and Andor are joined by, among others, a decommissioned Imperial droid, K2SO (Alan Tudyk), Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen), Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen), and Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed) in the effort to pierce the defenses of the Death Star.
Questions remain what role Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) plays in the film, but he is obviously been through many battles. "Consider him kind of a battered veteran who leads a band of Rebel extremists," Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy told EW. "He's on the fringe of the Rebel Alliance. Even [they] are a little concerned about him." Gerrera will reportedly have a long relationship with Jyn, having helped raise her as a child, and teaching her his more terroristic tactics in fighting the Empire. However, his indifference to the Rebellion makes Jyn's commitment to their cause makes him worried about her future.
The ultimate fight continues to be shrouded in all the trailers we've seen so far, so the mystery has been preserved. What we still don't know is whether any of these Rebels will survive their trip to the Death Star. We know the Rebellion gets the plans, but unlike Return of the Jedi, we don't know how many Rebels died to get them.
Do you have any surprising theories for what might surprise us in the film?