Just when you thought Star Wars mania was dying down. Today (April 7) Disney released the first teaser trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the first of a few spin-offs from the main Star Wars saga.
The film will follow a group of spies from the Rebel Alliance who are investigating the Empire’s new weapon of mass destruction: The Death Star. It looks pretty much exactly like what you’d expect a spy movie set in the Star Wars universe to look like. There are AT-AT walkers, all kinds of stormtroopers, military officials in Nazi-inspired uniforms, run-down rebel bases, and Mon Mothma.
The rebel leader from Return of the Jedi makes a brief appearance in the trailer, although her famous line about many Bothans dying to bring us information was actually about the second Death Star, so perhaps we will have to wait for another spin-off film to find out what a Bothan is and how they died.
The film’s cast, rather like last year’s The Force Awakens, is a diverse group, including Forest Whitaker, martial arts film star Donnie Yen, and Diego Luna. Rogue One’s main character, an orphan spy named Jyn Erso, is being played by Felicity Jones—who some are already speculating could be the mother of The Force Awakens’ main character Rey, due to their seemingly similar backstories and the fact that they sound alike.
There’s also speculation that other characters from the main Star Wars films could make an appearance—one eagle-eyed Reddit user has snagged a screenshot of what appears to Emperor Palpatine, or perhaps Darth Vader, in the film.
Rogue One is set to be released in December. It will be followed up in December 2017 by Star Wars: Episode VIII, which will then be followed up a year after that by another Star Wars story, and so on. With Disney at the helm, Obi-Wan Kenobi’s old line has become a prophecy: “The Force will be with you, always.”