It’s now officially confirmed that theupcoming
Star Wars: Rogue One – the first
StarWars Anthology (read:standalone) movie that Lucasfilm will release – will take placeafter
Episode III (
Revengeof the Sith) and not too long before
Episode IV (
ANew Hope) and tell the tale of the mission to steal the firstDeath Star’s plans. However, as of right now, the only confirmed cast member inthe film is Felicity Jones (
The Theory of Everything),who’s playing a Rebel soldier.
Ben Mendelsohn (
Bloodline) is reported to be
circling a Rogue One role – though, presumably, not the malelead role, which such actors as
Breaking Bad‘s AaronPaul and édgar Ramírez (
Clashof the Titans) were previously said to be in the running for. Thelatest update on the film’s casting process reveals that actors Sam Claflin andRiz Ahmed as now circling key roles in the feature, including theaforementioned male lead.
TheWrap is reporting that Claflin is the front-runner fora starring role in
Rogue One, while Ahmedhas already entered talks for another key role. Elsewhere,
Variety‘ssources are saying that Ahmed is the top choice for the male lead, citing hischemistry with Jones as having set him apart from his competition. The short ofit: both actors seem to be circling important roles in
RogueOne; assuming they sign on, we can later sort out who’s playingwhat role (and what those roles/characters even are).
Riz Ahmed
Sam Claflin
Ahmed appeared in such not-exactly-mainstream filmsas
Four Lions,
Centurion,and
The ReluctantFundamentalist beforecostarring with Jake Gyllenhaal in
Nightcrawlerlast year – playing Rick,a fellow who becomes the unwitting assistant to Lou Bloom’s (Gyllenhaal)gruesome night-time paparazzi work. That film is foremost
a showcase for Gyllenhaal, but most would probably agreethat Ahmed certainly held his own with a solid supporting performance.
Rogue One is based on a scriptpenned by Gary Whitta (
After Earth) and Chris Weitz (
Cinderella),with the longtime rumor being that Rebel soldiers
join forces with bounty hunters ontheir mission to steal the plans to the first Death Star. In general, actually,it seems the upcoming Star Wars films will be including more morally-greycharacters – even the animated TV show
Star Wars Rebels has begun to do as much.
Point being: notall of the film’s main cast members may be playing admirable members ofthe Rebel Alliance; they might even start out on the Imperials’ side, a la
John Boyega as Finn in The Force Awakens. There have always been(and shall continue to be) pure heroes in the
Star Wars franchise,but these new characters whose values are not always clear-cut should betterhelp to mix things up – and assist in keeping the galaxy far, far awayinteresting, as we see more of it on the big screen.
Star Wars: EpisodeVII – The Force Awakens opensin U.S. theaters on December 18th, 2015. Star Wars Anthology: RogueOne hits theaters on December 16th, 2016.