Star Wars Celebration is in London, England this year but – thanks to the magic of the Internet – the whole world can join in. Fans on the ground will have access to a bit of exclusive Rogue One footage, but for the most part, everything will be shared in real-time.
Including a look at some brand-new concept art from very early in Rogue One”s life cycle. First shared by whoever is on the ground running Yahoo! Movies Twitter account, the image shows two men, two women, a droid, an alien of unknown origin, and what definitely looks like a Loth-cat.
I love seeing concept art, to view where a project began vs. where it ended up. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the most diverse Star Wars film to date. Other than Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), every actor in the first cast photo was a PoC. That”s kind of a huge deal for a universe that was originally 99.999999% white and male. But as the concept art shows, it might not have started out this way. Or “white” is just the default drawing style because cultural conditioning.
The only change from the concept art I”m a little sad about is that Felicity Jones ended up being the only woman on the team. But Mon Mothma (Genevieve O”Reilly) returns and the new footage show a ton of other ladies, so fine. Maybe next time we can get a WoC (Woman of Color) in the mix, though?
Oh, and there better be a Loth-cat. I”m just saying.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story arrives in theaters on December 16, 2016.