It’s not hard to generate buzz around any film set in the universe of Star Wars, but between the release of its first trailer and more recent news of reshoots, the swell surrounding Gareth Edward’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story continues to rise. Today, we learn that James Earl Jones will reprise his role as the voice of mouth-breather Darth Vader, but don’t expect him to show often.
It’s unclear yet what kind of role Vader will play in the proceedings, but Lucasfilms President Kathleen Kennedy stated, “He will be in the movie sparingly […] but at a key, strategic moment, he will loom large.” There’s rumblings that this could be during a large action sequence that was potentially toned down in reshoots. As long as he’s not a gigantic hologram sitting on a gigantic chair in a gigantic room (loud cough), I’m satisfied.
As for those reshoots, with assistance from Tony Gilroy in scripting more dialogue and directing secondary unit, Kennedy opened up, saying, “There’s nothing about the story that’s changing, with a few things that we’re picking up in additional photography. I think that’s the most important thing, to reassure fans that it’s the movie we intended to make.”
She adds, “One of the things we’re doing with these Star Wars stories is embracing the uniqueness of the different genres, and we’re very deliberately leaning into the various styles of directors that we’re approaching so that each of these movies will very intentionally have a very different tone and style from the saga films. Gareth [Edwards] has shown a stylistic preference that’s much more handheld, visceral, inside-the-action kind of feel.” She concludes, “He does a lot of handheld, intimate, close-up work. That’s not something you’ve necessarily seen in a Star Wars movie before.”
Additionally, a batch of images have surfaced from Entertainment Weekly. In them are first glimpses of droids, some Storm Troopers looking stoic in a wading pool, and the Rogue One crew. Check them out below and see more at the source, which also includes character details.
Update: See more new images below via — you guessed it — EW.
The first spin-off in a series of Star Wars films released over the coming many years, Rogue One follows a team of rebels (led by Felicity Jones) on a secret mission to destroy the Death Star. Also starring Ben Mendelsohn, Alan Tudyk, Mads Mikkelson, Forest Whitaker, Diego Luna, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, Jonathan Aris, and now James Earl Jones, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters December 16th.