By We came for Phelps gold. We stayed for Star Wars gold. Or was it the other way around? For some, I’m sure it was.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story stole the evening from a series of memorable 2016 Rio Summer Olympics moments by flat out dropping Death Star caliber nerd bombs on primetime audiences everywhere with the release of 2:15 seconds of new trailer action.
It’s a story we’re already familiar with: Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is a criminal recruited by Rebel fighters to help lead a team to steal the plans to the Death Star before it becomes operational. (In this sense, it’s a story we’re very familiar with, as the Star Wars universe continues to really only dwell on the one overarching storyline that began back in 1977.) However, the new trailer, instead of playing up Jyn’s criminal history and general air of untrustworthiness (and potential for betrayal?) focuses on a sense of comaraderie between Erso and her fellow rebel scum compatriots played by Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen), and Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn).
What’s been most enjoyable to me through this new wave of post-Disney acquisition Star Wars films, has been seeing Star Wars fanboy material through the lens of modern filmmaking capabilities with an eye towards maintaining a cinematic feel true to the original films. This has borne breathtaking panoramics, beautifully aesthetic worlds and scenes, and our favorite Star Wars elements dropped in markedly new scenery. So far, it’s been a joy to see, and I imagine most of us look forward to seeing a lot more.
Then, of course, they confirmed what we already knew with the last couple of frames and one James Earl Jones spot of heavy breathing: Darth Vader is indeed back.
Check out the new trailer here:
[Via Polygon]