Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim began with a bang and is closing out with another one. On the last day of the convention, director Gareth Edwards took the stage to discuss the first Star Wars stand alone film, Rebel One.
The talk came a month after Disney and Lucasfilm officially announced the film’s title and named Felicity Jones the film’s lead star. While there was some speculation about what the film’s plot will be, the studio confirmed it today.
Rebel One will center on the Rebellion’s plot to steal the plans for the Death Star. Therefore, it will take place before the events in A New Hope, around the same time as the Rebels animated series.
During the panel, Kiri Hart, a member of the Star Wars story group, revealed that the standalone films will be released under the Anthology banner. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy also joined Edwards. Josh Trank, who is directing the second Anthology film, was not feeling well and missed the panel, host Pablo Hidalgo said. ILM’s John Knoll arrived at the panel later.
Edwards said that there was not much footage to show, but they did show a brief clip of a TIE Fighter flying over a forest planet with a possible space station in the clouds. Concept art was also shown.
“It comes down to a group of individuals who don’t have magical powers that have to somehow bring hope to the galaxy,” Edwards, who is coming off a huge success with Godzilla, said of the new film.
Hidalgo also noted that the Anthology films give filmmakers a chance to tell Star Wars stories without the Jedi.
There were rumors that Ben Mendelsohn might be interested in Rebel One, but he wasn’t mentioned. No other cast members were confirmed for the film.
Rebel One hits theaters on Dec. 16, 2016, a year after The Force Awakens. Speaking of that film, you can catch up on some of the secrets revealed at the start of Celebration right here.
image of Felicity Jones courtesy of INFphoto.com