'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' - Trailer Breakdown

The latest glimpse at Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One (the first of Lucasfilm’s planned Star Wars spin-offs) hit the web in the early hours of this morning, bringing heaps of tantalising new footage as well as some recompense for fans unable to see an exclusive tease shown to a select audience at July’s Star Wars Celebration event in London.

For those still not in the know, Rogue One is set just prior to the events of the original Star Wars, and tells the story of a band of Rebels charged with stealing the plans for the Empire’s ultimate weapon; the Death Star. 

While we don’t get an awful lot of new plot details in this second, longer trailer, we do get a lot more insight into our central characters, something the previous teaser tended to bury beneath a flurry of classic Star Wars imagery. After an initial shot of a new planet, Jedha, we see Felicity Jones’s Jyn Erso visit Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), a character previously seen in the Clone Wars animated show, now appearing as a battered, downtrodden resistance fighter with a deep-set grudge against the Empire.

“Imperial flags reign across the galaxy”, he says, as the payoff of the opening pan is revealed: an Imperial Star Destroyer hanging in the sky above the city, in homage to the opening of A New Hope.

After a brief re-tread of the plot setup from the first teaser, there’s a little more insight into the various character interplays. We get a hint of the camaradarie between Erso and Cassian Andor (an Alliance Captain played by Diego Luna), who hints that the team recruited to steal the Death Star plans have been sourced from a number of worlds. A craggy, rain-soaked planet glimpsed in short flashes could be the home of Baze Malbus (Wen Jiang) and companion Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen), whose Force-sensitivity is hinted at as he dispatches a squad of Stormtroopers.

The humour of Alan Tudyk’s motion –capture droid, K-2SO, briefly alluded to by the actor during the Rogue One panel at Celebration also gets a look-in. “The captain says you are a friend…I will not kill you”, he states dryly, bringing to mind the (sadly non-canon) musings of HK-47, a fan-favourite assassin droid from the RPG Knights of the Old Republic.

But before things can get too chummy, a doom-laden air descends as Jedha’s sun is eclipsed by the Death Star itself, and Ben Mendelsohn’s Director Krennic glowers planetward. An action-oriented rework of the Imperial march plays as the Rebels are shown in the heat of combat on tropical planet Scarif, outnumbered and outmatched by Imperial forces. “There is a 97.6 percent chance of failure”, K-2SO clarifies. 

The final seconds of the trailer delivers a flurry of hefty action, rife with spectacular imagery: X-Wings powering through stormy skies, the Rebel’s craft attempting to escape a cataclysmic debris field, and Jyn charging defiantly forward, even as a TIE Fighter hovers into view.

As the film’s logo appears, fans disappointed by the lack of Jimmy Smits’ returning Bail Organa or further footage of Krennic’s fearsome Death Troopers are soon rewarded with a single shot of Darth Vader, who gives us a solitary mechanical exhale before the trailer ends. Edwards promises that, used sparingly, Vader’s presence will loom large over the finished film, and this latest tease is a perfect demonstration. For all the exciting new worlds, further character establishment and more of Greg Fraser’s extraordinary cinematography (continuing his director’s penchant for making already terrifying objects seem more monstrous), it’s this momentary appearance from cinema’s most famous villain that will spark the fires of excitement and speculation all over again. 

'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' hits UK cinemas on Friday, December 16th 2016

The new trailer can be watched here

A behind-the-scenes reel from Star Wars Celebration Europe 2016 can be seen right here

April's first teaser is still available here