UPDATE! EW Reveals Details on Wheel-Shaped Space Station Over Scarif + New Magazine Covers and 15 Photos for Rogue One!
Have you been wondering about that big wheel in the sky that the X-wings are seen attacking in the Rogue One trailer? Well, you’re not alone. Entertainment Weekly’s Anthony Breznican gives us the scoop on the name of the installation as well as its purpose. Also, check out the new covers for EW’s special Rogue One issue that hits the stands on Tuesday! Also EW revealed 15 new photos from the movie…
(from Entertainment Weekly):
What you’re looking at is the Shield Gate, and the world below is Scarif, a tropical planet that is one of the Empire’s key military bases. Think of it as a galactic Los Alamos, the top-secret desert town where scientists and engineers built the first nuclear bomb during World War II.
Scarif is a gigantic version of that — a remote weapons development facility that is so precious to the Emperor that the entire planet is covered by an impenetrable force field.
“You can see the blue sheen surrounding the entire planet,” Rogue One co-producer John Swartz says. “The shield gate is the security. As Imperial ships and cargo comes through, it punches a hole in the shield so they can pass. The gate officer gives clearances as they give out their call signs.”
Scarif is a key part of what the filmmakers call “the Imperial security complex,” he added, making it the home base of Ben Mendelsohn’s Director Orson Krennic, head of the Empire’s special weapons division.
“It’s part of their military industrial complex. It’s not necessarily where the Death Star was constructed, but a lot of military research goes on there,” Swartz says. “That’s why Krennic spends time there. It’s the site of research, structural engineering, munitions and manufacturing, all rolled into one facility.”
And now for the covers:
EW’s cover story will feature a conversation with the movie planning team about a meeting in January to mark out the future of the franchise beyond Episode IX. They also spoke with Rogue One‘s composer, Michael Giacchino (Doctor Strange, Up), wherein he described his musical contribution as “the galactic version of World War II music”.
EW’s Rogue One special hits the shelves tomorrow. Also, be sure to check back later as they promised to drop some more exclusive photos from the movie.
UPDATE!
EW also shared 15 new photos from Rogue One with some interesting new details about the movie.
Senator Jebel (Jonathan Aris, of Sherlock) in red and grey; Senator Vaspar (Fares Fares, of Tyrant and Zero Dark Thirty) in blue; and Senator Pamlo (Sharon Duncan-Brewster, EastEnders and Bad Girls) in gold. In the foreground with her back to the camera is the leader of these leaders: Mon Mothma, played by Genevieve O’Reilly (Glitch) who is reprising the role from the prequels.
Andor is like a CIA field agent, and this man, Tivik, played by Daniel Mays (The Infiltrator, Atonement) is one of his underworld connections to the insurgent group led by Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). “He is one of Cassian’s contacts on the moon of Jedha,” says co-producer John Swartz.
With the Empire at peak strength, so is Darth Vader (again voiced by James Earl Jones.) But this time he is a threat not just to the Rebels but to Imperial special weapons director Orson Krennic (played by Ben Mendelsohn.) “There are military men who are interested in a really effective piece of military hardware, and Darth Vader is a little bit beyond that, right?” says Kiri Hart, Lucasfilm’s head of story development. “He’s tapped into something on another level, on a spiritual level. So, that’s part of the fun of Vader in the context of the Imperial Military. He’s got a broader perspective.”
Krennic has a lot to prove. The Emperor has invested a great deal in the Death Star, and it has taken much longer than expected to develop. Vader is the enforcer, responsible for spurring it along, but he harbors doubts — not just about the planet-destroying laser, but about the man who is responsible for perfecting it. “Here is the thing about Krennic: his perspective obviously is that of a person who doesn’t understand the Force,” says Hart. “And Darth Vader comes at everything from the perspective of understanding the Force. So that I think is the thing that you see sort of separating Darth Vader from other characters with regards to a super weapon like this.”
Krennic has a long history with Jyn Erso’s father, Galen (played by Mads Mikkelsen), a scientist who is an expert at manipulating kyber crystals — which are the key element in the making of a lightsaber blade. They were once friends, and Krennic sponsored his research and protected his family. But the Imperial weapons chief sent his Deathtrooper commandos to capture Galen when he fled to avoid working on their weapon of planetary destruction. This is the world the Ersos retreated to: Lah’mu.
“It’s meant to be a fairly secluded world,” says Swartz. “We shot it in Iceland, at a place where there’s beautiful black sand and green mountains poking through. The family went into hiding to a world where you wouldn’t normally have a farm, but that’s as far as they could get from Galen’s past life.”
It’s named after Laamu, one of the real-life tropical locations in the Maldives where Rogue One shot scenes for the planet Scarif. The filmmakers liked it so much, they named another world after it.
After an encounter on the storm-stricken world of Eadu, Jyn Erso rides aboard a starship with two key members of her commando squad: the blind, Force-faithful warrior monk Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) and his pal and protector, the machine-gunner Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen). Rogue One is crafted as an extreme underdog story, with the Rebels outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered and outplanned.
“In many ways, the Rebels don’t have a leg to stand on,” Jones tells EW. “They’re a motley crew, they all have had difficult backgrounds. They’re all outsiders in some way, and they’re coming together to fight something far bigger than them, more efficient. The Empire is wealthier, and it has everything the Rebels don’t, so the odds are definitely stacked against them.”
Donnie Yen’s Chirrut Imwe is not a Jedi, not Force-sensitive in the way they were, but he does believe in the lost faith they followed. “Something that’s a very obvious departure on this picture is that we really have no Jedi,” Knoll says. “This takes place in a time that’s after the Jedi purge in Episode III and before Obi-Wan reemerges and starts training Luke, and before Yoda gets involved. So this is a dark time when things are very bleak and the Jedi have not come back.”
The rest of the photos have been seen before but we strongly advise you to check them out at EW, since they have some more interesing tidbits about the movie.
Jordan Pate is Co-Lead Editor and Senior Writer for Star Wars News Net, of which he is also a member of the book and comic review team. He loves all things Star Wars, but when he's not spending time in the galaxy far far away, he might be found in our own galaxy hanging out in Gotham City or at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, NY.
Yeah, no surprise there. I’d like to think that most of us had this figured out by now.
I’m crushing on Felicity Jones.
You’re not alone. I think she’s displaced Hoth Leia.
I’m not sure the internet would ever be ready for the (unlikely) event of a new female lead who replaces Slave Leia though 🙂
That’s more than unlikely. If it requires skin, it ain’t happening.
my first star wars crush was actually natalie portman in AotC. particularly her ever shrinking outfit in the third act. 😉
Padme in AOTC was my first crush, period.
I was already 30 when that movie came out so Leia was pretty much imprinted. I can see what you mean though.
Always thought Carrie Fisher peaked in Return of the Jedi.
Hands off, you can have Sy Snootles
It reminds me of the gate in Spaceballs… Will the Rebellion also use a Mega Maid?
Suck! Suck! Suck! Suck!
is the shield’s code, one-two-three-four-five?
Thats the stupidest combination I’ve ever head in my life! Thats the kinda thing an idiot would have on his luggage…
Sounds like something an idiot would use on his luggage.
I am in love with this thread.
https://io9.gizmodo.com/why-cant-the-empire-design-things-without-one-very-obvi-1789226433
SHE’S GONE FROM SUCK TO BLOW!!!!!
I’m more interested in seeing that other article advertised there. Episode XIII and beyond
Thirteen? I know that Disney has far-reaching plans for Star Wars, but I believe it’s still to erly to talk about Episode XIII?
that’s cool to see planet wide defensive shield in the films, haven’t gotten one on that scale before.
We have actually… in Spaceballs!
Lets hope the Imperials have a better code system than “1, 2, 3, 4, 5” 🙂
Oops… just saw that you’ve made almost the exact same post below! Oh well…
Will somebody threaten to undo Jyn Erso’s nose job? Will she break under this unimaginable torture?
I like the idea that the station apparently floats in orbit around the planet and opens the shields at where ever it currently is rather than being a stationary fixture. At least that’s how they seem to present it.
I don’t know how much longer I can deal with outlet’s and random people on youtube or facebook who are not major star wars fans or aficionado’s stating that Vader and the Empire are at their peak in this film. Really? The stealing of the plans does not happen a decade before A New Hope, this all happens (fruition of the plan and the actual execution) more likely very very close if we’re going with the info that the film ends basically a few min before ANH begins. What we know of Vader if from ANH to RotJ and that spans what.. maybe 6 years or so in total. Vader’s peak is I believe more around The Lord’s of the Sith Era. This Vader is the Vader we know, unless you’re telling me his peak drops drastically in the few weeks or months between this film and ANH. So much throwing of “Vader is in his peak” left and right is starting to rub me the wrong way -.-
Oh whatever dude, whatever.
You understood that? Bravo – slow clap.
Whatever b!tch, whatever.
http://res.cloudinary.com/urbandictionary/image/upload/a_exif,c_fit,h_200,w_200/v1396227695/zjxrie5ljfnmbvznhdqh.jpg
I don’t think the term is that inaccurate. I’ve always considered the Empire to be on the rise right up until around Rogue One and ANH; the campaign surrounding the Death Star’s destruction is the Rebels’ first major victory after all. That is also around the time when the Empire removed the last remnants of the Republic senate, and until his death, Tarkin is still in a mindset that viewed the Rebels as a nuisance rather than a credible threat. If you’re talking about Vader’s physical performance, we really have yet to see if his slower movements in ANH will receive an in-universe explanation, so he could very well have been at peak performance in that film.
After spending the day thinking about it the only conclusion I could come to is that after RotS Anakin is more machine than man in the sense that the only organic part of him is his head and torso. Everything else is robotic. So when it comes to his motor functions of course they’re limited by how quickly his cybernetic appendages can be manipulated (even w/ Force enhancement) In addition since his Force powers are derived from midi-chlorians he has a finite amount residing in what organic tissue he has left, however its probably fair to say that his knowledge of the Force and how he can apply it constantly is growing. That being said, I don’t think there’s any real explanation they can provide in R1 to explain his movements in ANH because he still move’s the same way more or less in ESB & RotJ and if his movement is based on cybernetics it would be a stretch to state that he never bothered to fix those mechanical issues in all that time. When it comes to his peak, perhaps its fair to say that in terms of his use of the Force if he’s constantly learning and adapting he is using it at his best in R1, but I fail to see how he can be at his peak in a post Jedi galaxy where he is being used more as an overseer as opposed to how he was in the early to middle half of the near 20 years from the end of Revenge of the Sith to the start of New Hope wherein he was hunting Jedi and eliminating other areas of opposition on a regular basis. But of course that’s assuming he hasn’t been doing some hard action/duty w/in this time frame. Without more info on what’s going on I see this more as an Old Man Logan Vader in the sense that Old Man Logan is Wolverine after not having popped his claws in 30 years, he’s still a powerful and formidable opponent but it would be absurd to say he’s at his peak. So I guess the crux of my argument is that considering the only organic part of Anakin is his torso and head, and that he is essentially just a force sensitive human his peak is dictated by the phases of development in one’s lifespan so I just think the peak as a human is not in their forties. Either way its just a technicality and at the end of the day I wouldn’t be surprised if Pablo Hidalgo drops some knowledge on that to clear it up for me or anyone else who may feel the same way. Not gonna take away from the movie anyways.
4 years between a New Hope and Return of the Jedi
There are not even months or weeks between this film and ANH. It’s said that the time between these two movies is not more than 10 minutes. My guess is that the movie ends on the Tantive IV
Love the look of Vader here, it’s as close as could reasonably be expected to ANH Vader. I am hoping though that they spend some more time in the booth with Jones trying to nail the ANH voice. Besides Jones’ obvious age, ANH Vader is much more…shouty and emotional, something his recent turns as the character haven’t really been able to capture.
That was George Lucas. He was known for having people re-do a take, and adding “Now do it faster, and more intense”. We don’t see that in 5/6 because he didn’t direct those. And by the prequels, he no longer did that.
I mean the whole movie (ANH) is fast intense dialogue. I am hoping he goes back to any OT film, as i wasn’t that pleased with the RotS version… although that was likely due to writing and directing.
Noooooooo! lol
Again, check out the undubbed stuff – that’s always how Vader was delivered, not something that was created in the looping sessions from Lucas pushing. Also check out interviews Jones has since given on the development of the voice – the idea of making it a colder, less extreme performance was developed on Empire.
But Lucas would have directed Prowse to talk that way, for pacing and movements, regardless if he was to be dubbed over. I’m just saying, everyone talked different after ANH. Luke and Vader were most Drastic, but Leia and Han too.
Yes. He sounds much better with no emotion and loss of a human soul. I look at Vader and try to think of anakin under that mask and what he’s really thinking and how much he hates his life
There is a reason Vader is more shouty then: he is desperate to recover the Death Star plans. There is urgency there.
Actually Jones said that when he and Kersh came to record Empire they experimented with various takes and found that the performance was more menacing the further he dialed the emotion back, the colder he delivered the lines. The intention (as seen in the hilarious undubbed Vader stuff) seems to have originally been more a cliched, pantomime villain in SW.
No, I know the behind the scenes reasons, but in terms of story reasons, it makes sense for him to act that way.
But I prefer Vader being more Empire than ANH, anyway
Oh, absolutely – much better performance.
There’s also the chance, still, that he’s the dude in the Bacta Tank we’ve seen in the previews.
If he is, and he was partially blown apart and had to be healed some and rebuilt, then personally scolded by the Emperor…
Fuel for that initial scene on the Tantive IV.
GODDAMN IT, ROBES UNDER CHEST ARMOR! ROGUE ONE IS RUINED! RUINED I TELL YOU!!!!!
Supposedly both over and under are in the movie. The shot of him walking towards Krennic inner cloak was over armor.
Shield gate? The combination must be… 1… 2… 3… 4… 5…
Where is MegaMaid when you need her.
She’s gone from suck to blow.
I actually had to do a double-take on Tivik as I scrolled by. I thought it was Pablo Hidalgo, lol.
pablo wishes he had hair like that. 😉
“This takes place in a time that’s after the Jedi purge in Episode III and before Obi-Wan reemerges and starts training Luke, and before Yoda gets involved. So this is a dark time when things are very bleak and the Jedi have not come back.”
You can’t really apply this sentiment when Rebels is canon. Feels like we are in one of the most interesting timelines (formation of the rebellion) of the Star Wars universe but its target audience is children. It’s enjoyable, but it’s so close to Rogue One and the differences in tone will be hard to ignore.
“and the jedi have not come back”.
rebels also complicates that sentiment with kanan and ezra.
Well, Rebels is what. 5 years before a New Hope, this is story takes place five minutes before a new hope.
Rebels may now be…2 years from where it started? Season 2 started on the heels of Season 1 timeline wise, but Season 3 definitely jumped forward.
That still gives somewhere between 2-3 years for Kanan and Ezra not be around anymore. In one form or another.
They have to kill them off by series’ end or it just doesn’t make any sense, IMO. Please don’t get too attached to these characters, Dave. Just kill them off when they need to be killed off.
i feel ya, its just that they make it sound like the rebellion has had to manage without any help from the jedi at all. which rebels has definitely contradicted.
I feel you, too. That’s why I’ve said before that I treat Rebels as this separate fantasy story within Star Wars, almost EU. It’s not even like they try to keep Ezra and Kanan secret either. They just run around with lightsabers out.
its almost getting into the marvel films vs marvel tv territory where the tv shows reference the films but have zero impact on them. i’m hoping we get some cross pollination between rebels and rogue one to dispel that fear.
Well, you’ve seen the ship in the trailer that’s mingled in the fleet which they acquired from Princess Leia in Rebels, right?
It’s something I myself noticed, that Ezra and Kanan really fly low. Very few people know that they exist between the empire ranks and generally, and fewer know that they’re actually jedi.
Is it me or does Darth Vader look like some guy in a Halloween costume? Something about him just seems off. The black shades don’t seem to match throughout the costume. Maybe it’s the lighting but he’s not as dark as he usually appears.
That’s the way it was in Episode IV. Vader had a very two-toned design.
i just noticed that the lenses in Vader’s helmet aren’t red.
Star Wars Is Ruined!™
About vader’s cape: in episode III it wasn’t under the plate thing…. so really there’s no problem with it.
A world with no Jedi, so the Ghost Crew is dead?