Star Wars: Rogue One Spinoff Movie Officially Announced For December 2016

During a Disney Shareholder held on March 12, Lucasfilm announced that Rogue One, the first Star Wars spinoff movie, will be released on December 16, 2016.

The film will be directed by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla, Monsters), and written by Chris Weitz (Cinderella, Antz). Felicity Jones (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Theory of Everything) was also announced as the first cast member signed on to the movie.

For those not versed in Star Wars lore, Rogue One is the callsign given to the leader of the elite Rebel Alliance flight squad known as Rogue Squadron. Wedge Antilles and Luke Skywalker have both been given the callsign in the past. This probably means we can look forward to a movie with plenty of spaceship dogfighting.

 Details about the plot remain under wraps, but the idea for Rogue One is said to come from John Knoll, an Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer at Industrial Light & Magic. Knoll will executive produce Rogue One, alongside Simon Emanuel (The Dark Knight Rises, Fast & Furious 6) and Jason McGatlin (Tintin, War of the Worlds). Kathleen Kennedy and Tony To (Band of Brothers, The Pacific) will produce and John Swartz (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) will co-produce.

Rogue One starts filming in London this summer.