The full leading cast for Star Wars: Rogue One, the first stand-alone Anthology film in the Star Wars franchise, was revealed at the D23 convention in Anaheim today. Disney and Lucasfilm confirmed that Oscar nominee Felicity Jones and Diego Luna will be joined by Mads Mikkelsen and Forest Whitaker.
Rogue One will tell the story of a band of Rebel fighters who stole the plans for the Death Star before A New Hope. Godzilla director Gareth Edwards is helming the movie, which is currently in production.
Jones has been attached for awhile, but Disney hadn’t confirmed the rest of the cast until now.
Ben Mendelsohn (Netflix’s Bloodline), Oscar winner Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland), Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler) and Luna (Milk) had all been linked to the project in the past.
The new names announced today are Mikkelsen (Hannibal, Casino Royale); Donnie Yen (Ip Man, Blade II); Jiang Wen (Devils on the Doorstep, Let The Bullets Fly); and Alan Tudyk (Con Man, Trumbo). Tudyk gives a motion capture performance.
Lucasfilm also revealed the crew for the film. Greig Fraser, who shot the dark films Zero Dark Thirty and Foxcatcher, was picked to be director of photography. Neil Corbould (Black Hawk Down, Saving Private Ryan) is special effects supervisor. The story idea came from ILM veteran John Knoll.
Rogue One hits theaters on Dec. 16, 2016. Disney also announced some big news about the main Star Wars saga at D23.