Thomas discovers what lies beyond the incredible images from a Gareth Edwards’ Star Wars standalone
The final trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was released last Thursday. The teaser and first trailer were already amazing but this trailer is even better! It gave us a bigger look at this movie, revealing a lot more things so there’s a lot to talk about!
The very first shot is Krennic’s shuttle arriving on a planet with an ocean, it’s a wide shot, you immediately feel the immensity of this set. The first few seconds showed us scenes that were shot in Iceland. It’s a new planet with a very different environment than we had seen before, that’s exactly what we expect in Star Wars, seeing planets that are all different.
To quote Ryan Church, the concept design supervisor on Revenge of the Sith:
“George rules are that each planet are completely distinct from one another, distinct details, colors, architecture, places …”
Here we have water, a dark green land and big mountains. Galen Erso’s (Jyn’s father) house seems to be a farm as we recognize some moisture vaporator. It’s also our first look in a trailer of Galen Erso (played by Mads Mikkelsen) as before we only had seen a picture of him during Star Wars Celebration Europe. What we have here is a flashback when Jyn was younger, so in terms of timeline, we’re close to ROTS. There’s a dark sky, it’s probably foreshadowing what’s happening — bad things for the Ersos. Krennic is coming with his squad of Deathtroopers to capture Galen.
The way it’s filmed we can feel the threat coming, the Deathtroopers are very menacing, they created a great design for them. When we see Krennic, there’s the word villain written on his face. Right from the trailers, we can figure out he is going to be a frightening villain.
The next shot shows us Jyn Erso waking up in an Imperial cell. On her right a new alien with a lot of tentacles on his face. Rogue One brings us a lot of new aliens, all with great designs that fit in the universe.
Then we have a shot of Jedha, you can see an AT-ST in the streets, two new yellow aliens and Tie Fighters passing above them along with an imposing Star Destroyer. Jedha is supposed to be a holy place for the Jedi. And when we look at this planet, we can see it’s inspired by Jerusalem which is a holy place for the religions. It has this very sacred look. And I think it’s also inspired by Onderon seen in The Clone Wars, there are some resemblances.
Then we have other shots sending us back to the Imperial prison where rebels come to free Jyn.
We return to Jedha again. We can see the U-Wing passing above a fallen statue of a Jedi. I think we’re going to be mind-blown by this planet. It has an entirely new design and it carries a lot of the Jedi history.
It’s going to be interesting to see this planet at a time the Empire is ruling over the Galaxy because we’re not going to be a shining and lively planet but we’re going to see ruins, things belonging to history, this feeling of ancient times. It’s going to give a lot of room for Prequels references which is excellent!
“Our Rebellion is all that remains to push back the Empire.” — Mon Mothma
The trailer takes us to Yavin IV, the rebel base. It explains to us why Jyn is chosen, she is the daughter of Galen who has a critical role in the development of the Death Star. What they need is her to find him. This reminds me of the plot from The Man From UNCLE — where Gaby is hired by CIA and KGB to work with Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin to find her father who is creating a nuclear bomb for Nazis. It’s the same kind of situations except that UNCLE was a comedy and Rogue One is a war movie.
As we hear Mon Mothma talking, we have another flashback sequence on Eadu featuring Galen Erso and Krennic who has always is giving the bad guy look.
There’s this beautiful shot of the Death Star behind the clouds. It gives this impression of a threat that is coming towards us.
It goes to showing us each human member of Jyn’s team — Cassian Andor, Base Malbus, Bodhi Rook and Chirrût Imwe and then the U-Wing leaving Yavin IV, probably going to the mission. We’ve been wondering for quite some time why is the movie called Rogue One? The trailer gave us the answer, it’s a call sign that they’ve made. “It’s Rogue … Rogue One.”
We have another look at Vader in the trailer, we see his reflection on the floor of the Death Star and Krennic talking to him. Just by seeing that little of him, it gives me shivers, it’s Darth Vader! As we saw that and the Death Star again we hear these words “The power that we are dealing with here is immeasurable.” If you don’t pay attention, it seems that it’s just Krennic talking but if you listen very carefully, it doesn’t seem like it’s just Krennic. The end of the phrase definitely seems like it’s him talking but the “that we are dealing with here” seems like it’s Vader talking, it’s extremely similar to his voice!
There’s an intriguing rumour that has been making its way into the internet. It is that this guy we see from the back is Tarkin. Honestly, I’m not sure, he seems way too young to be Tarkin. However, I think there are chances that we see him in the movie, it would make sense but not in this shot. We’ll see! One thing that is more likely in this shot is that they are preparing to use the Death Star on Jedha!
With the next shots, we have a rebel meeting with Mon Mothma, Jyn Erso, officers and what seems to be senators from different planets including one who seems afraid about the Death Star. On the very right, we have one man with white hair and beard and a white coat, I’m just speculating here but it could be General Jan Dodonna. It’s the same haircut, the same outfit he wears at the end of A New Hope.
We have a scene of revolt on Jedha with stormtroopers and an AT-ST attacking people (rebels? or other insurgents?). We can spot Moroff, a new alien who seems to be leaving the battlefield … We can spot Cassian and Jyn during the sequence but not sure if it’s part of that same scene.
Saw Gerrera’s introduction in the trailer is powerful. We saw his feet first, the tension is building and then they show us his face. What we see is a man in decline, we understand that the suit he is wearing helps him to survive, he has a robotic leg, a mask is attached to his chest, probably to make him breathe when he has troubles. He has changed very much since The Clone Wars.
Having such an entrance for this character in the trailer is a beautiful tribute to George Lucas and his Prequels, Saw was created by Lucas. Throughout the trailer, we see a way of filming that is the way Lucas filmed the Prequels. Rogue One appears to be similar to the Prequel Trilogy in so many ways.
Visually, it’s all like the Prequels, it’s the same level of visual creativity, it follows Lucas’s rules of planets. It’s beautiful wide shots, shots of vehicles where we see them not just a part of it. The movie is filmed in digital which was the case for Attack of The Clones and Revenge of The Sith. It gives the movie a better quality, obviously. You have this feeling of immensity, this feeling that it’s a huge galaxy and like the Prequels, Rogue One is bringing the word War into Star Wars.
“We have hope. Rebellions are built on hope.” — Jyn Erso.
At the same time, we are introduced to Saw in the trailer, we hear an inspirational quote from Jyn. That reminds me of Star Wars Rebels and what Hera once said to Ezra “We have hope, hope that things can get better, and they will.” The theme of Hope always comes back because that’s what keeps the Rebellion together.
Just look at this shot of Scarif, it’s breathtaking! It’s an entirely new planet. It’s a jungle/sea planet, very exotic, lots of palm trees. We didn’t see a planet like this before! It’s of true beauty. The Imperial facility too has a great design, it’s a huge complex!
Rogue One is said to be a war movie and this shot reminds me of the kind of shots we see in war movies that deal with the Vietnam War.
It looks like we’re going to have a sequence similar to ANH when Luke and Han are disguised as stormtroopers, here Cassian and Jyn disguise as Imperial officer and Imperial Ground Crew to get into the Scarif Imperial facility. This shot can be linked with what he had seen before when Jyn was wearing this outfit without the helmet in the first teaser.
We move to a sequence on Eadu with Chirrût and Base as X-Wings are arriving. This gives us our second clue to the battles happening in this movie, we’re gonna have the revolt on Jedha, the battle on Scarif, the battle on Eadu and a space battle that is probably happening above Scarif (my guess). With Eadu too, we have a new planet, it’s rainy like Kamino but it’s rocky, seems like a planet made of canyons.
We saw the costume of Edrio Two Tubes during SDCC and the trailer gives us a proper look at the character, we can notice there are two characters like him. Then we have some badass moments with Chirrût and Base who kick some stormtroopers ass. They’re going to bring great action in the movie! Chirrût being blind and believing in the Force is going to be very interesting to see.
“Make ten men feel like a hundred.” — Cassian Andor.
After Jyn, we have an inspirational quote from Cassian and other shots of the battle on Eadu, it’s going to be intense for sure! Lots of explosions and fighters coming in — Y-Wings and X-Wings.
We then see some action on Scarif, Chirrût using his bo-riffle and an army of Shotroopers and Stormtroopers.
This is pure speculation but putting together the trailers, it seems Bodhi Rook could die. This shot of him seems like he’s thinking about doing the ultimate sacrifice for the mission. Just after we see him getting into a shuttle.
In other trailers, we see a shuttle on Scarif blowing up. I think it could be that same shuttle. At least, Rook is definitely thoughtful in this shot and doesn’t seem to be like he’s going to survive.
The huge surprise is obviously the space battle, something I’m so happy to see! And it looks like there’s the whole Rebel fleet participating. We have X-Wings attacking this space station.
There’s the blue pilot who is a general. And when we look at the rebel fleet behind, we can spot two medical frigates and another surprise on the top right near the second X-Wing, you can see the Hammerhead corvette from Star Wars Rebels! Rogue One is really using all the tools around it — Prequels, Originals and animation!
Then we go back on Eadu for some explosion, K-2SO in a ship and an imperial shuttle attacking two people. These two people if you pay attention are Cassian Andor on the left and on the right Jyn Erso, we recognize her outfit from the Celebration Reel. So looks like they’re going to be in a lot of trouble there!
We have another look at Jedha here being destroyed. We can see pillars that probably belong to a Jedi temple! And we see someone standing in front of the camera watching this part of Jedha being destroyed. It’s hard to say who it is really. Right now, I have no idea and no guess about the identity of this person but I’d say this person is gonna die, most likely.
AND DARTH VADER IS HERE! We see him coming out of the smoke heading towards Krennic and it gives me shivers! The way Vader walks towards him is not a good sign for the Imperial officer. I’m speculating but I think it’s a possibility that Vader force chokes him after his defeat on Eadu and Scarif.
We also have a shot of Galen who’s on the ground, looking angry, he is probably not in a good situation, facing Vader maybe? or Krennic? Moments before his death?
“Save the Rebellion ! Save your dream !” — Saw Gerrera
We’re probably going to have an emotional scene with Saw according to the way he says these words, most likely to Jyn. I think considering what he says, he might go and sacrifice himself for Jyn to accomplish something.
The last shots are on Scarif with the U-Wing on the battlefield surrounded by AT-ACT and then Chirrût and Base who are trying to avoid being smashed by one of these walkers. Once again with these shots, we have the war movie feels, it’s intense, lots of action!
The Rogue One final trailer is truly epic, words are not enough to describe how awesome it is! I’ve watched it many times and I’ll watch it many more times in the upcoming weeks waiting for the release of the movie!
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Collectables Editor at Future Of The Force.
Star Wars and Marvel specialist, anime expert
