Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - First Trailer

The trailer for Star Wars prequel Rogue One has landed

Star Wars’ galaxy from a long, long time ago is expanding with A New Hope prequel Rogue One, and we get a good hint of what the universe will look like with the teaser trailer that landed today. From this first glimpse, it’s a million miles away from the three Star Wars prequels offered to us from series creator George Lucas.

The 90-second promo suggests Rogue One will be a grittier take: more down and dirty, and at its heart characters who seem less virtuous than the typical Star Wars heroes. The trailer introduces us to a wayward band of rebel fighters played by the likes of Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Mads Mikkelsen and Forest Whitaker, and led by Lyra Erso, played by ace Brit actor Felicity Jones. We see Erso being reprimanded by a superior for being “reckless, aggressive and undisciplined,” and her reply is stirringly badass: “This is a rebellion, isn’t it? I rebel.” Luke Skywalker she is not.

There are other signs that this will be a departure from the usual Star Wars tone: cute robots and slapstick sidekicks are absent, John Williams' iconic score is kept to a minimum and the overall visual palette is darker. Fear not, though, there are plenty of familiar elements there too to get fans salivating, including an AT-AT attack, some storm troopers taking a beating from Erso and a glimpse of the original Death Star, the plans for which Erso and her team are charged with stealing.

For those who were disappointed that JJ Abrams' The Force Awakens wallowed in the nostalgia of the original trilogy, it looks like director Gareth Edwards has something more original in mind. The British filmmaker earned his stripes with intimate indie sci-fi Monsters before giving a blistering take on Godzilla. He looks here to be doing similarly interesting work with the Star Wars universe. “It’s exciting because we’re not held to anything and we can be a bit more free, more brave,” he said recently to Flicks and the City. “And what’s great about everyone at LucasFilm is that they’re encouraging that.”

Rogue One will be followed by other prequels exploring the Star Wars universe, including movies focused around a young Han Solo and young Boba Fett. We’ll need to wait 'til 16 Dec for Edwards' film, and it’ll be interesting to see if it can match the success of The Force Awakens. This first look is promising though.