Every Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Cameo Explained.

Are you a casual Star Wars fan who unexpectedly heard random fits of applause from the audience when certain characters showed up? Here’s a primer to who those characters are and why your fellow fans got excited, along with a few cameos that you may have actually missed.

 

MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD!

 

I’ll try to keep these in approximate chronological order. I should note that I’ll only be focusing on specific characters and not things like ships, generic droids, and locations (though there is one exception to that, which I include only because of the cameos that characters tied to the ship have), as I will be saving that for another article altogether.

 

 

Saw Gerrera

 

 

“Cameo” is probably stretching it, given his prominence in the advertisements and the fact that the entire movie wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t pick Jyn Erso up and get the message from her father, but the real reason I’m listing him here is because – not counting R2-KT’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in The Force Awakens – he’s the first major character to leap from a television show to a movie (and he’ll also be making a leap back into TV through Rebels, as we’ve recently learned). Though we learn a bit about him in the movie, it seems like exposition that would have helped make the character’s presence in the movie stand out a bit more was cut for whatever reason. Hopefully, we’ll get to see more of Forrest Whitaker’s take on the character when the movie’s deleted scenes arrive, and Rebels should prove to be enlightening.

 

Saw Gererra was a freedom fighter during the Clone Wars and was taught military tactics by Anakin Skywalker himself. While he successfully liberated his home planet of Onderon, the death of his sister Steela – who was shaping to be a capable leader herself – left him a bitter, broken man. When the Galactic Empire threatened the sovereignty of his planet, he would become one of the first leaders of a major Rebel Cell, proving to be a great ally to what would become the Rebel Alliance. Over time, Gerrera’s methods became too extreme for the Rebellion and he was excommunicated, leading his own group known as the Partisans. In spite of his turn toward extremism, Gererra cared greatly for his adopted daughter (Jyn Erso) and died believing that there was hope for the Rebellion to succeed.

 

 

The Ghost, Hera Syndulla, and C1-10P “Chopper”

 

 

Throughout the movie, you can see a few glimpses of the signature transport of the Spectres in Rebels. It’s not too hard to find in the battle over Scarif at the end of the movie since it appears in plenty of shots (including a couple of TV spots), those with a sharp eye can see it appear among the ships docked on Yavin IV when we first see the planet and just before the heroes leave for Jedha.

 

But the ship itself isn’t all that we get to see or hear about – the movie subtly reveals that ship’s pilot, Hera Syndulla, was on Yavin IV just before the Rogue One operation took place. Right after Jyn Erso gives her big inspirational speech in front of the Rebel Alliance, you can hear an announcement of “General Syndulla, report to the hangar deck!” spoken twice. While this could technically refer to her father, Cham, one thing establishes that it’s absolutely her: Chopper, her astromech droid, is also present at the hidden fortress. When a Rebel Alliance radio controller hears about the unauthorized assault on Scarif, Chopper rolls by as the man makes his way to Mon Mothma (and you can even hear his signature little “Wup-wup!” noise from him if you listen closely). So we know that at least two rebels and their ship survive the events of Rebels (unless, of course, the show goes on beyond the Battle of Yavin).

 

On an unrelated note, I have heard that Pablo Hidalgo’s Star Wars Propaganda book implies that Hera Syndulla fought in the war after the Battle of Yavin. I haven’t read the book myself, so I can’t attest to how much of that is speculation and how much of that is confirmed. Hidalgo himself is being a bit coy about which Syndulla was being referred to here, and I suspect it’s so they can keep that door open (even though we kind of already know that it’s her who survives based on a few context clues). So there is clear evidence that it’s Hera.

 

 

Fulcrum

 

 

Alright, so this one technically isn’t explicitly stated in the movie, but it’s been explained through the information in some of the background information that’s been released thus far, and is consistent with the overall story arc that Lucasfilm has been developing. As established in Rebels, Fulcrum is a collective identity given to various anonymous information brokers allied with numerous Rebel Cells. The title was seemingly retired once the Rebel Alliance is formed in earnest, but background lore establishes that Cassian Andor, the male lead of the film, previously operated as the Fulcrum operative of the Albarrio sector. Fitting, considering his status as a part of the Rebel Alliance’s intelligence branch.

 

 

Mon Mothma and Jan Dodonna

 

 

Two of the most important leaders of the Rebel Alliance that we get to meet in the Original Trilogy – specifically seen A New Hope and Return Of The Jedi. Jan Dodonna is best known for providing exposition on the Death Star’s weakness once the plans are analyzed; he is seen in the background of several scenes on Yavin IV. Mon Mothma has a much larger role within the Star Wars canon and is considered the true founder of the Rebel Alliance alongside Bail Organa. She would also give a debriefing similar in nature to Dodonna’s in discussing how to get rid of the second Death Star’s shield generator on Endor. Mothma also had a cameo filmed for Revenge Of The Sith, but it was taken out of the theatrical cut of the film. The actress who portrayed the character (Genevieve O’Reilly) would ultimately get the last laugh in Rogue One, where she got a wealth of dialogue and quite possibly the most screen-time out of any of the movie’s cameos.

 

 

Bail Organa

 

 

Not one to be left out, Bail Organa appears at a few Rebel meetings throughout the film, such as when he walks in Jyn’s debriefing as if to say “Oh, hello there. Don’t mind me, I’m just here to make my cameo.”, though thankfully he got a bit of dialogue in for good measure. Organa is a Leia’s adoptive father and is the man who did a lot of the heavy lifting to secretly fund a number of Rebel Cells prior to the actual foundation of the Rebel Alliance (one of the earliest of which was formed with the aid of Anakin Skywalker’s apprentice, Ahsoka Tano). We always knew that he would be on Alderaan when it was destroyed, but it’s only in Rogue One that we learn that he was preparing to mobilize his people to take action after the Death Star was discovered (even though they’re a planet of pacifists). Given that his daughter was discovered to be a part of the Rebel Alliance herself and that the apple usually doesn’t fall far from the tree, it made Alderaan an easy target, sealing the fate of Bail and most of his people.

 

 

Doctor Cornelius Evazan and Ponda Baba

 

 

These two jerks try to bully Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor when they bump into each other on Jedha. While these guys are relatively unimportant in the grand scheme of things, they did pull the same stunt on Luke Skywalker in A New Hope – and as such, they were the first people to fall victim to a lightsaber strike, courtesy of Obi-Wan Kenobi. For that reason, they hold a special place in the hearts of many Star Wars fans. While this cameo seems like the least organic one out of the bunch (Because really, what are they doing on Jedha, and why do they conveniently leave the planet just after the blockade is lifted but just before the city is blown to smithereens?), but it’s harmless fun, so it more or less works.

 

 

Wilhuff Tarkin

 

 

Governor of Eriadu and the Grand Moff in charge of the Death Star, Tarkin is known for his unbridled ambition and casual cruelty. Because his role in Star Wars is so clearly defined by his involvement with the Death Star, it was inevitable that he’d appear in or get mentioned in Rogue One. It’s ironic, then, that his rivalry with Orson Krennic is what led to his own downfall – given that Krennic was the only one who learned about Galen Erso’s elaborate self-destruct button hidden inside the battle station, Tarkin might have been able to save himself and the Empire a lot of trouble if he hadn’t decided to kill Krennic in the most elaborate way possible. (Also, the Empire seems surprisingly lax about the fact that Tarkin destroyed one of their most valuable databases for the purpose of killing a few rebel stragglers. Seems kind of like overkill, and the kind of thing that would get anyone else fired and/or summarily executed.)

 

But what’s interesting about Tarkin’s role in the movie is how they had him in the film at all. Lucasfilm used motion-capture to recreate the likeness of the late Peter Cushing, with Guy Henry playing the character’s body. A similar effect has been used in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (artificially aging Hayley Atwell in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and de-aging Michael Douglas and Robert Downey Junior in Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War respectively) and has also been applied to HBO’s Westworld with Anthony Hopkins, but this is the first time that the effect has been used to bring an actor who is no longer with us back from the dead. A more detailed look on how they accomplished this technological feat can be found here.

 

 

Oola

 

 

Oola was one of Jabba the Hutt’s slaves, and she had the unfortunate fate of being fed to a Rancor after she tried to get away from the gangster’s slimy clutches. In Rogue One, we briefly see a Twi’lek that may or may not be her dancing suggestively in a hologram played at Saw Gerrera’s fortress. A hologram of a Twi’lek dancer could be any Twi’lek individual in a setting where there are billions of them in the galaxy, and as far as I could tell, there’s nothing to clearly identify her as Oola in particular when we keep that in mind (and, if anything, the Twi’lek dancer that we see has a much more modest wardrobethat Oola does). That being said, since we don’t really get to meet a whole lot of Twi’lek women in the Star Wars canon as far as the movies go, it almost feels like it’s her in spirit.

 

 

Vaneé

 

 

Alright, so this is another borderline example just because the information surrounding this character isn’t completely clear. Vaneé (whose name has only been revealed through supplementary material) is the random Imperial servant who lets Darth Vader know that it’s time he put his clothes on because he has guests to attend to. The thing that’s worth keeping in mind is that his name is extremely similar to Kren Blista-Vanee’s (with the only clear difference being that there’s no accented “e” at the end of his name), who was one of Palpatine’s mysterious advisors that we saw in Return Of The Jedi. Both of these characters are pale, have their heads covered, and vaguely look similar to one another (going off of memory, anyway). So on the off-chance that the accent at the end of his name has been retconned into the character’s full name, we’re looking at the same character. If not, well, the galaxy’s big enough for a few people to have similar-looking names.

 

UPDATE: It’s since been clarified that the two characters are unrelated. If that’s the case, then perhaps Vaneé might have some kind of a role going forward in stories set during, shortly before, and shortly after the Galactic Civil War. (And don’t you dare start up another sucky Snoke theory! That’s been preemptively debunked, too.)

 

 

Darth Vader

 

 

Come on, don’t play that game with me. You know who this guy is. And if you have never seen a Star Wars movie in your life and this is your first, then I know that you won’t easily forget who he is, either. While many fans more or less knew that he’d be in the movie based on its status as an immediate prequel, few would guess that his long-expected action sequence would help explain why he’s has an uncharacteristically frustrated temperament at the beginning of A New Hope. Knowing that the Death Star plans were almost literally in his grasp probably didn’t put him in the best mood. James Earl Jones returns to voice the character for a single scene in the film (and possibly a few more if they had him record lines for the deleted scenes).

 

 

Raymus Antilles

 

 

Raymus Antilles is best known as the guy who gets choked by Darth Vader by his bare hands instead of with the Force, but he also ordered C-3PO to get a memory-wipe with the final exchange of dialogue in Revenge Of The Sith. As the captain of the Tantive IV, his goal is to keep the people aboard his ship safe, which as we’ve seen in Rogue One, works for a little while before the Imperial boarding party arrives. Bail Organa greets him before he leaves for Alderaan. Antilles presumably stays at the Yavin IV base and leads the two droids onto the ship (more on that in a moment) before handing the plans off the Princess Leia once the ship was safely in hyperspace. The actor playing Antilles is uncredited.

 

Not to be confused with that other Antilles with a role in the Rebel Alliance, or the other Antilles who shares the name of “Bail” with someone we’ve already talked about. (The dude was brought up in a conversation in The Phantom Menace and was subsequently never mentioned again.)

 

 

R2-D2 and C-3PO

 

 

If you’ve ever seen any – any – Star Wars movie made thus far, then you should know who these two adventurous droids are. But where they appear in the film is actually a bit earlier than some fans were expecting: instead of appearing on the Tantive IV in the last scene of the film, the two are seen at the Yavin IV base wondering what all the fuss is about when the Rebel Alliance summons a fleet out of nowhere. And while it’s not established how they end up on the ship (since they aren’t shown boarding it in their scant amount of screentime), they would obviously have to jump aboard before the climax of the movie, which is set very shortly before the events of A New Hope. Otherwise, this would have created a sizable plot hole – after all, if Leia stopped by at Yavin IV to pick up the droids before going to Tatooine, then why didn’t she drop off the Death Star plans while she was there? (Hopefully, an explanation should come sooner rather than later.) Anthony Daniels reprised his droid role, but Kenny Baker did not due to his untimely death.

 

 

Red & Gold Squadron

 

 

Three squadrons are deployed to Scarif – Blue, Red, and Gold. While we don’t meet Blue Squadron again until Return Of The Jedi, the most attentive Star Wars fans will notice that Red Leader Garven Dreis and Gold Leader Jon “Dutch” Vander specifically reprise their roles in the film by means of Lucasfilm repurposing old, unused footage from A New Hope into Rogue One and mixing it in with CGI. (Hooray for clever editing and digital effects!) Both Dreis and Vander would meet their ends at the actual battle to destroy the Death Star, but they live to fight another day as far as Scarif was concerned. The original actors for these two – Drew Henley and Angus McInnes – recorded lines for the movie, although Henley sadly passed away before the movie was finished.

 

In addition, we also see the pilot who held the designation of “Red Five” (which would later be used by Luke Skywalker) for a brief moment before his ship is gunned down. Wedge Antilles can also be heard at one point, but it’s not Denis Lawson (who opted out of a cameo for The Force Awakens) doing the voice-over – David Ankrum, who dubbed Lawson’s lines for A New Hope, came back to play the character again. (Thanks to Screen Rant for that last tip.)

 

 

Leia Organa

 

 

Last but not least, we briefly reunited with Princess Leia as Rogue One came to a close. I’m not going to waste any time talking about who she is and why she matters because I know that you know that. But I do think it’s neat that they allude to the fact that she’s actually an Imperial Senator, since the Senate is still open at the time the story takes place (a great touch). I also dig the fact that we see her wear the veil like she did in A New Hope, as that’s an element of her character design that I don’t think has received enough attention. Lucasfilm employed the same technique that they used to resurrect Peter Cushing, given that Carrie Fisher was available but couldn’t play a 1977 version of herself for various reasons. Ingvild Deila does the motion-capture and voice of the character underneath her digital mask.

 

What were your favorite Rogue One cameos? Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments below!

 

Stay tuned in the next few days for our article on the multiple easter eggs found in Rogue One.

 

 

+ posts

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

81 thoughts on “Every Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Cameo Explained.

  • December 18, 2016 at 9:20 pm
    Permalink

    I’m going to listen for General Syndulla and be on the lookout for Chopper next time, wish I hadn’t missed those.

    • December 18, 2016 at 9:20 pm
      Permalink

      I didn’t catch those either!! Now I’m like, dammet!!

    • December 19, 2016 at 12:30 am
      Permalink

      I caught the Syndulla one on the second viewing but still never saw Chopper

    • December 19, 2016 at 4:48 am
      Permalink

      My brain caught Syndulla and after some dialogue I thought: Did I just hear somebody’s name I know..? But I forgot it XD

      • December 19, 2016 at 8:58 pm
        Permalink

        I heard General ______a, and assumed it was Dodonna, lol

    • December 19, 2016 at 7:01 pm
      Permalink

      Same here. Apparently the Ghost is also present in the hangar bay.

      • December 19, 2016 at 8:59 pm
        Permalink

        Really? Pretty cool, that’s another thing I need to look for, then.

    • December 18, 2016 at 9:26 pm
      Permalink

      ahh!!

    • December 19, 2016 at 5:38 am
      Permalink

      thanks!

    • December 19, 2016 at 7:13 am
      Permalink

      With Hera being called for, Chopper in the base and the Ghost making a few appearances, I REALLY hope we get an episode or two of Rebels that takes place at the same time as the cameo’s. Would make me all warm and fuzzy inside. lol

    • December 19, 2016 at 1:40 pm
      Permalink

      Thanks for the picture, I missed him in the first viewing and read where he would show up for the second viewing next week. Subtle cameo!

  • December 18, 2016 at 9:25 pm
    Permalink

    While Leia, Tarkin and Vader were AWESOME. I think my favorite was the Doctor Cornelius Evazan and Ponda Baba cameo. It was just so great and my entire theater erupted in laughter. Ugh, this movie was just so great, I had such a fun time watching it. My feelings about the film 2/3 of the way was “It’s okay, its good.” but then that 3rd act….. my god.

    I love that it instills this scene of urgency I NEVER had watching the opening of a new hope. I just rewatched the opening again and my stomach is tight, because I’m actually afraid now. For a movie to do that for a film that came out in 1977 is just amazing.

    Even my friends who are star wars fans but aren’t as big as me were screaming their heads off raving when we came out of the theater. It was just a great experience.

    Also….. THAT. VADER. SCENE. UGH!! It was so amazing. You know you’re an insane Star Wars fan when Vader is literally mowing down people and killing them as they scream in horror and you just have the biggest smile on your face as you slightly giggle like a school girl. That was me in the theater.

    • December 18, 2016 at 10:16 pm
      Permalink

      Ugh – doesn’t that mean disgust or boredom or has it been subverted by you youngsters, like the word sick.

      • December 19, 2016 at 4:04 am
        Permalink

        Ugh just means ugh. The context is important I said “Ugh, this movie was just so great”. I don’t know I don’t really think about it that much…. lol

    • December 19, 2016 at 5:55 am
      Permalink

      Jesus, did you notice when he cuts through the door that VADER HAS A GUY FREAKING IMPALED ON HIS BLADE WHILE HE DOES IT?!

      • December 19, 2016 at 6:59 pm
        Permalink

        OMG, YES! He stabs through the guy and then through the door. And did you catch when he force pushes that guy up to the ceiling and then slashed right through his gut?

        • December 20, 2016 at 1:27 am
          Permalink

          From behind, no less.

      • December 19, 2016 at 9:37 pm
        Permalink

        I was freaking out so much by everything that had happened in the hallyway BEFORE he cut through the door that my mouth was already on the floor when that happened. I was numb from too much emotions. Like imagine a huge grin but with your mouth ajar. It was just too much amazing-ness within a couple of seconds my brain was scream lololol.

  • December 18, 2016 at 10:08 pm
    Permalink

    I loved every cameo. There might be one or two on Jedha that I can’t recall. I’m glad they showed that freaky lookin’ Twilek who might be related to Bib Fortuna. Only have seen it once so far.

    • December 18, 2016 at 10:59 pm
      Permalink

      unless thrawn is already dead by then… or banished to unknown regions for failing to defeat the rebels.

    • December 19, 2016 at 2:34 am
      Permalink

      Not necessarily. He had nothing to do with the Death Star as far as we know (Thrawn would probably look down on it anyway) and he might not even be around at that point.

  • December 18, 2016 at 10:37 pm
    Permalink

    The only one I thought wasn’t needed was Ponda and the Doc. Maybe 3PO and R2. That said… it didn’t bother me or anything.

    • December 18, 2016 at 10:47 pm
      Permalink

      I think C3PO and R2D2 were merely to say they are in every movie. Which because of that 3 second scene it is still true. Didn’t need to be there but still will make all those trivia questions correct. Heh.

      • December 18, 2016 at 11:32 pm
        Permalink

        That streak will come to an end with the release of the Han Solo movie.

        • December 19, 2016 at 12:38 am
          Permalink

          theyll be shoved in the background somewhere in a spaceport or something like the falcon was in 3

          • December 19, 2016 at 6:58 pm
            Permalink

            Yep. Count on it. And because we don’t know how old R2-D2 is, expect him to appear in an Old Republic movie if they ever make one.

  • December 18, 2016 at 11:00 pm
    Permalink

    red and gold leader were the biggest surprises for me. what a cool treat. 🙂

    • December 19, 2016 at 5:52 am
      Permalink

      Here here. Totally didn’t need to do that, nobody but fans will get why it matters, but it was so goddamn cool to see and hear them.

      • December 19, 2016 at 6:51 am
        Permalink

        I gave out a little squeal when I saw those two.

    • December 19, 2016 at 2:20 pm
      Permalink

      I don’t like noises and people talking in cinemas but i have to admit when i saw them i went totally crazy. The friend on my side is still laughing. I think i was the only one in the cinema who yelled out loud (just a couple of seconds in my defense) :p

    • December 19, 2016 at 8:19 pm
      Permalink

      I personally was hoping for a Porkins reference but that was pretty cool too.

      • December 22, 2016 at 6:18 am
        Permalink

        “Original Red 5” was basically an Asian version of Porkins, died similarly too.

  • December 18, 2016 at 11:10 pm
    Permalink

    Can we confirm that Dreis and Vander are in it using CG effects?
    This movie gets more technically innovative the more I hear about it! Yeah to Star Wars and innovation.

    • December 18, 2016 at 11:55 pm
      Permalink

      It was old footage in new ships

  • December 18, 2016 at 11:18 pm
    Permalink

    Is it just me or there was a Kubaz (Garindan) in a yellow hood just before stormtroopers try to catch Cassian at the commerce post? At least the scene played just like that of ANH before the Falcon escapes.

  • December 18, 2016 at 11:25 pm
    Permalink

    I’m pretty sure that was Cham Syndulla sitting in Saw Gerrera’s mountain hideout, at the table, when the Rogue One main characters enter. Skinny salmon-colored Twi’lek, looked just like a live-action version of the guy from Clone Wars & Rebels. And it makes sense that he’d be Saw’s friend at this point.

  • December 18, 2016 at 11:38 pm
    Permalink

    On a goosebumps level, my favourite scene was the conversation between Mon Mothma and Bail Organa, with the reference to Obi-Wan and Leia. My third favourite scene was seeing Red and Gold Leader. Both scenes were very well done.

  • December 19, 2016 at 1:26 am
    Permalink

    Having seen the movie only once 4 days ago, I’m still shocked how great its 2nd half was!

  • December 19, 2016 at 1:34 am
    Permalink

    I enjoyed a lot the fact that Galen was the one that made the weak point in the Death Star as previously stated in the Lost Stars book, when Ciena’s and Thane’s friend found it. It gave me goosebumps! Just saying. Sorry about my English.

    • December 19, 2016 at 6:56 pm
      Permalink

      Your English seems fine to me.

  • December 19, 2016 at 1:45 am
    Permalink

    I thought that the ANH pilots’ scenes were all archive, including dialogue (‘cept for “shield gate”) ??? I noted that they ‘hid’ the DS1 that’s seen behind (?)Red Leader as a Mon Cal cruiser on the next shot – very clever.

    The Imp Officer that Vader talks to on the Star Destroyer over Scarif **looked** like Jeremy Bulloch, but I’m guessing JB would look older now ??

    I wish we had seen the droids boarding – or on board – the Tantive.

    I found JEJ’s voice old, less noticeable in the first scene in an echoey chamber, but more noticeable on the Star Destroyer’s bridge.

    As a PT fan, I loved the glimpse of Coruscant !

    Also loved the blue milk in the Erso kitchen, as well as the ‘frontier’ style modular interior design as seen in the Lars kitchen [ANH].

    Wonderful to see the RMcQ artwork for Vader’s castle ; great to see Mustafar again. We really didn’t need that ‘domestic’ scene for the plot, but it added SO MUCH to the Vader backstory !

    • December 19, 2016 at 1:59 am
      Permalink

      Can I also say that though I’m no musician, some of the score cues or notes or instruments or whatever made me think of the Prequel music, very soft violin or sweeping romantic arrangements. Great to hear snippets of JW’s music within MG’s music, and the blast of SW fanfare over the closing credits – annoyingly missing from the cd – was wonderful to hear again ! I do wish we had had a burst of SW fanfare at the beginning with the R1 title.

      • December 19, 2016 at 5:50 am
        Permalink

        Yeah, I mentioned that elsewhere too – a LOT of the score felt like it could have melded into “Across the Stars”, but then there’s also a fair amount of the tracks that cover the space battle that fit nicely with the more percussive parts of the battle of Yavin. Again, not a brilliant score, but well thought out, and fairly successful given the timeframe involved.

  • December 19, 2016 at 6:39 am
    Permalink

    Another cool RO scene was the 2 stormtroopers on Scarif talking about “the T 15 finally being decommissioned” before being taken our by Imwe and Baze. In ANH when Kenobi deactivates the tractor beam we hear 2 stormtroopers speak about “the new T 16 is great”. Just shows how much attention to detail was paid in this movie.

    • December 19, 2016 at 4:23 pm
      Permalink

      And in Force Awakens there is a conversation about the T-17..

      • December 19, 2016 at 6:54 pm
        Permalink

        I guess the T-16 lasted a long time.

  • December 19, 2016 at 7:10 am
    Permalink

    Jan Dodonna was a little off looking considering this takes place hours before ANH but not like they could do much seeing as how the actor is long dead. Mon Mothma I could buy though since we never saw her in ANH and she probably aged a lot in three years considering how the rebels were always on the run then.

    • December 19, 2016 at 7:12 am
      Permalink

      I’m very relieved Alden wasn’t in this film too.

      • December 19, 2016 at 10:55 am
        Permalink

        Ehrenreich, you mean? I agree. There was no place for Han to show up in this movie because the entire point of his character in A New Hope was to show that he didn’t care for any higher cause until he fought alongside Luke and Leia. I always thought that it was ridiculous that people took his casting – which happened after principal photography wrapped – as a sign that they were going to shove the character into Rogue One.

        – Pomojema

        • December 19, 2016 at 5:20 pm
          Permalink

          Anyone who thought he would be in it has no faith in LFL

          • December 20, 2016 at 2:20 am
            Permalink

            Either that, or they presume that Disney’s Star Wars model is exactly like their Marvel model. Which it isn’t, and it shouldn’t be, given the anachronistic way that the narrative of Star Wars has been told.

            – Pomojema

  • December 19, 2016 at 12:43 pm
    Permalink

    My favourite cameo would undoubtedly be Leia.

  • December 19, 2016 at 2:24 pm
    Permalink

    ”Lucasfilm used motion-capture to recreate the likeness of the late Peter
    Cushing, with Guy Henry playing the character’s body. A similar effect
    has been used in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (artificially aging
    Hayley Atwell in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and de-aging Michael Douglas and Robert Downey Junior in Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War respectively) and has also been applied to HBO’s Westworld with
    Anthony Hopkins, but this is the first time that the effect has been
    used to bring an actor who is no longer with us back from the dead”.

    The only motion capture they used was for the face, think of it s ”Digital make up, or digital prostheses”. An actor provided the performance, it was not ‘animated’.
    They have used it for dead actors, Oliver Reed, Audrey Hepburn, Marylin Monroe, Grace kelly, Marlene Dietrich, but in a very raw primitive form.

    ILM are working on something ‘new’ anyway, they tried to make it work for TFA with Mas Kanata, but it wasn’t quite there. They are definitely using it with Snoke in episode 8. It takes the technology involved in facial motion capture and transfers that performance ‘live’ into an animatronic puppet, in real time. So everything can happen in camera.

  • December 19, 2016 at 3:29 pm
    Permalink

    People have said it before but after all of these Rebels references there really needs to be an episode (series finale?) showing these events from the perspective of The Ghost crew. They weren’t just adjacent to the battle at Scarif. They were in the battle.

    • December 19, 2016 at 5:19 pm
      Permalink

      That would make for a bad series finale and kind of have nothing to do with the arcs the characters are currently on.

      • December 19, 2016 at 7:24 pm
        Permalink

        Yet.

        • December 19, 2016 at 11:29 pm
          Permalink

          Lot of wishful thinking to get there.

          • December 20, 2016 at 2:22 am
            Permalink

            Some of them will die before then.

          • December 20, 2016 at 4:46 am
            Permalink

            Or leave. Nothing says that Kanan and Ezra can’t just leave the Ghost crew.

          • December 20, 2016 at 4:51 am
            Permalink

            Perhaps

      • December 20, 2016 at 12:15 am
        Permalink

        “Currently.” We still have the rest of this season then season four and five to get through.

        • December 20, 2016 at 12:37 am
          Permalink

          Right, but it’s all a pipe dream at this point and the future arcs might also have zero to do with that battle.

          As an episode, fine. As a finale, no thanks.

          • December 20, 2016 at 2:13 am
            Permalink

            Fair enough. I just want to see those events from the perspective of the Ghost crew. They were there. To pretend that they weren’t seems like a wasted opportunity.

    • December 19, 2016 at 6:19 pm
      Permalink

      I’m hoping that the Rebels series finale can be the Battle of Scarif, just as the series of finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars was supposed to be the beginning of Episode III.

    • December 19, 2016 at 10:57 pm
      Permalink

      I think we are still closer to two years away in the Rebels timeline. Also, isn’t Hera a General now in the show?

  • December 19, 2016 at 7:50 pm
    Permalink

    Great article, Pomojema! Fun to read.
    An Emperor cameo would have done it for me. Vader could have Skyped him in while meeting with Krennic.

  • December 19, 2016 at 8:21 pm
    Permalink

    The only thing about the movie that didn’t line up quite right is Leia’s line in a ANH saying that they were on a diplomatic mission. You were clearly in a battle, Darth Vader and Stormtroopers saw your ship clearly take off with the Death Star plans. Makes no sense what so ever.

    • December 19, 2016 at 11:14 pm
      Permalink

      Was that the Tantive IV in the battle though? I was under the impression from that ending montage that the other blockade runner was separate, and the plans quickly make their way to the Tantive IV.

      • December 19, 2016 at 11:46 pm
        Permalink

        It was docked inside that bigger cruiser. I believe it’s the Tantive IV.

    • December 20, 2016 at 11:10 pm
      Permalink

      no, that made extreme sense, remember vader says to her that he’s sure that plans have been transmitted to this ship and tells her to stop her sass.

      R1 made that scene a lot stronger than it was.

  • December 19, 2016 at 10:11 pm
    Permalink

    This is a great article, and that’s not the sort of praise I give out more than one or twice per decade. Nice job!

  • December 19, 2016 at 10:50 pm
    Permalink

    Not sure if these count as “cameos” but the truck that was delivering Jyn to a prison was a Clone Turbo Tank (AKA Juggernaut), which first appeared in ROTS.

    One of Saw’s minions appeared to be wearing the helmet of an Elite Corps Clone Trooper (they look like Biker Scouts and appeared on Kashyyyk in ROTS).

    So these things (along with Mustafar) tied the end of the Prequel era to the start of the OT.

    • January 10, 2017 at 9:36 am
      Permalink

      They’re in the other article I wrote.

      – Pomojema

Comments are closed.

LATEST POSTS ON MOVIE NEWS NET