Holy cow what a week for Rogue One news! Anthony Breznican at EW unloaded a ton of information which we started breaking down last week and will likely do so more this week. Until then lets unpack what’s new! Possible spoilers ahead!
1) Rogue one gets the cover of EW.
Davestrrr: Nice photo! More of the “jungle motif”. I really hope that we are on Onderon. The only thing wrong with that theory is that if you look at the shots from the Clone Wars, Onderon has a lot of architecture as well that we don’t see (yet) in any of the Rogue One shots. This is stuff that could be another part of the planet, or could be added in later with CGI, assuming that is where it’s at.
Mazlow01: This was a total suprise and quite honestly what the film needed, a boost of excitement for the fans. After the bad news coming out about reshoots etc this got most of the fans I know excited again.
2) Introduction to most of the main characters
Davestrrr: A lot of nice info here. We further get some deeper connection between Baze and Chirrut suggesting that these guys are friends. I talked about this a bit in my article last week. I’m glad that we got some confirmation on the name of K-2SO so we can end the debate if that is an “S” or a “5”.
Mazlow01: Some of this we already knew but the small details added to character’s that were before just “The blind guy” and Robot were awesome to hear about.
3) Details on Forest Whitaker’s Character
Davestrrr: This is great! We reported on this already, but I still think its great to connect to TCW. I actually hope for more character connections like this. Yeah, people have said stuff like Saw’s eyes are blue in the cartoon, and Forest’s eyes are brown, but these are minor things. I guess we have to accept some variation between media. Looking back at those cartoons, we see way more of Saw’s sister, Steela. He is actually a minor character in the Onderon arc in terms of screen time. For that reason, I also hope that we’ll see a grown-up Steela. Part of the reason why I want to see Steela is that black female characters are VERY underrepresented in Star Wars and it’s time we had a strong black female character. This is a great opportunity for that.
Mazlow01: So I have to admit I was convinced he was going to be Talon Karrde, though when Saw Gerrera I figured I was wrong. Still I held out hope secretly. I will say though that I’m really happy with this choice, it shuts up the anti-prequel crowd and teh cartoons aren’t canon crowd in one shot. Love it.
4) Darth Vader back in the mix!
Davestrrr: Honestly, I expected this. Not surprising at all, and welcome. I also think we should probably see the Emperor in this one, with a chance to bring back Ian McDiarmid. Gotta love Ian as the Emperor! To me it would be worth it to include him, if only briefly. How much of Vader will we see is the question here. Will it be a brief shot or two, or will we see some action? Clearly, if we have JEJ, then we will have some dialogue, but again, how much?
Mazlow01: Dude… Vader.
5) About those Reshoots…
Davestrrr: Reshoots are no biggie, and par for the course.
Mazlow01: I think this matches what we have heard and I still think they are underestimating the amount to save face. I suspect what MSW was told was OVER estimated so a happy medium… lets say 25% of the film is being reworked. Just my gut.
6) A boatload of new images
Davestrrr: Yes, the stormtrooper doll! I can only assume that this plays into some plot point. There must be a kid playing in the fields before the attack, and he runs off leaving his or her doll behind. Could be a cool little scene and frankly may be a bummer that they showed it here (What? did I just complain about being spoiled!!?!?) Also of note is the helicopter camera. Could make for some cool, fast, shots. Exciting! Couple this with the fact that Bourne screenwriter and Michael Clayton filmmaker Tony Gilroy is being brought on, could really lead to some amazing shots.
Mazlow01: All of these are awesome but this one is the only one I can think about. ITS AWESOME
7) More on Monthma!
Davestrrr: This is great. Happy to see Mon Mothma’s role being expanded. This sort of places her at the formation of the Rebellion, as well as far beyond that. If only her scene in RotS wasn’t cut, she would be all over. Glad they still used the same actress from RotS though.
Mazlow01: Ok I may or may not have a crush on this character. She is going to rock this movie and steal the show… just my gut.
8) Finally and Excerpt from the Aftermath book
Davestrrr: Interesting stuff. We are getting a further glimpse into Leia before TFA. I’m hoping that we’ll see her Force powers, if only briefly, in Episode VIII as Mazlow01 has theorized.
Mazlow01: This to me confirms what I was talking about two weeks ago. Leia is learning the force via correspondence courses.
Stay turned to spoiled blue milk for updates MWF!