You may have noticed that there was a Star Wars Celebration event today in London, and that loads of exciting stuff came out at the Rogue One panel, not least brand-new footage from the film and the first look at Vader (sort of).
Having watched it, re-watched it, then watched it a few more times for fun, then watched it one last time just to be sure, here are our five most burning questions:
1. Will there be a Rogue Two?
The footage gave us tons and tons of new heroes, aliens and creatures we're fairly sure we're going to fall in love with. But with Kathy Kennedy specifically distancing the Star Wars Story branding from "sequels or prequels" does this mean we'll never get to see any of our new friends again? If so, hashtag sad face.
2. Are those the Death Star plans?
Felicity Jones is hanging pretty tightly onto a hard drive in this shot – could this be our first gawp at the iconic plans we first heard of nearly 40 years ago? (When we first pictured them they were rolled up blue prints, mainly because we were babies and didn't know about hard drives in 1977.) If they indeed are the Death Star plans, massive, massive, massive spoiler alert!
What to Read Next
3. Is this a distant relative of Admiral Ackbar's?
In the panel footage we got a quick glimpse at a member of Admiral Ackbar's species, the Mon Calamari. Whether or not he'll bellow his own iconic catchphrase to match 'It's a trap!' in unconfirmed. Whoever he is, Gareth Edwards seems to like him.
4. Is Warwick Davis playing Bistan?
Warwick Davis was confirmed to appear in Rogue One in the behind the scenes footage, in much the same way Simon Pegg was confirmed in The Force Awakens footage last year. We think Warwick is playing another alien in a similarly all-encompassing costume. Later in the footage, we got a glimpse at Edwards' directing Bistan, alien member of the Rogue One crew. If that's not Warwick, we'll eat our Wookiee. We'd recognise that voice anywhere.
5. Is that a bloody Wampa?
That really, really looks like a Wampa. If so, it has some pretty radical implications for The Empire Strikes Back. This dude looks pretty sentient to us, which means the one that trapped Luke in the ice cave in Empire is basically the Leatherface of the Star Wars universe. Now THERE's a Star Wars story we'd like to see.
Freelancer writer
Sam is an entertainment writer with NCTJ accreditation and a twenty-year career as a film journalist.
Starting out as a staff writer at Total Film, moving up to Deputy Online Editor, Sam was responsible for Total Film’s YouTube channel, where he revolutionised the magazine’s approach to video junkets, creating influential formats that spread to other outlets.
He’s interviewed a wide range of film icons, including directors such as David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Ridley Scott, Michael Bay and Sam Raimi, as well as actors such as Meryl Streep, Nic Cage, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Anne Hathaway, Margot Robbie, Natalie Portman, Kermit the Frog, all of the Avengers and many more.
Sam has also interviewed several comic creators, including Stan Lee, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and he has a zombie cameo in The Walking Dead comic.
In 2014, Sam went freelance, working directly for film studios including Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Disney, as well as covering red carpet events for film marketing company PMA Productions.
Sam is the co-host, producer and editor of the Arrow Video podcast, which has seen year-on-year growth since its creation in 2017, gaining over half a million listens in that time.
His byline has appeared in outlets such as Yahoo, MTV, Dazed, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Good Housekeeping among others.
In 2012, Sam made it to the final of the Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year competition, and went on to become a filmmaker himself, directing three features that have all played major festivals, and secured distribution – starring in two of them.
Jim Carrey once mistook Sam for Johnny Cash, and John Carpenter told him to ‘Keep up the good work.’ He promises to try his best.
