Rogue One will be, by default, the best Star Wars prequel, so the question is really just how good it’s ultimately going to be. It’s certainly a different take on the franchise we know and love, but just how different is underscored by a new, lightly spoilery, leak of an upcoming art book for the movie. If you’d rather stay unspoiled, go forth with this GIF of Donnie Yen applying stick to Stormtrooper:
Speaking of Yen, we have a few names to apply to a few faces, thanks to sample pages posted to book wholesaler Edelweiss. Some of this is stuff we either already knew or was glaringly obvious, like the fact that yep, Darth Vader is turning up. But there are some interesting details elsewhere.
For example, we finally get a look at Alan Tudyk’s droid, K-250, and he turns out to be a reprogrammed Imperial “enforcer droid.” Diego Luna’s character is a Rebel officer named Cassian Andor, and Yen is Chirrut, a “spiritual warrior.” We’ve also got a “freelance assassin,” Raze, played by Riz Ahmed, and two aliens, one named Pao with an enormous mouth, and the other named Bistan, who looks like an Ewok version of Boba Fett.
On the Imperial side, we learn that Ben Mendelsohn is playing Krennic, Director of the Imperial Military. Which sounds a bit like he does nothing but give Palpatine updates at the scrum, but at least he looks good doing it. Also, the guys in black armor are called Death Troopers, so we assume they have better aim than the white armored model.
Just as interesting is what’s missing. We don’t see Mads Mikkelsen or any role for Alastair Petrie, and Forrest Whittaker’s character isn’t listed with our heroes or the Imperial forces. He’s not even in the book’s art at all.
Finally, if you look at the final piece of art, you’ll notice on the Imperial side that there’s a sort of khaki stormtrooper who only appears on that slide, despite the art being reused multiple places in the book. Everywhere else, Khaki Guy is just a standard stormtrooper. Who might he be? We’ll find out soon enough; Rogue One arrives Dec. 16.
(Via /Film)
