5 Coolest Moments in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story First Trailer

The first Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer is here, and it’s glorious. With action, plot advancement, and at least one character getting an actual name, it’s only a minute and 40 seconds, but it’s a minute and 40 seconds of Star Wars excitement.

We combed through and narrowed the trailer down to the top five moments, though if you want to see everything that caught our eyes, you should check out the extensive 35+ gallery of still images from the film’s first teaser trailer.

The Rebellion

The entire introductory sequence is one big nostalgia overload, and it’s glorious. From finally learning the name of the main character, Jyn Erso, to seeing Mon Mothma, to just seeing the general Rebel Alliance, a classic X-Wing, and those outstanding orange jumpsuits, the trailer establishes one thing immediately: You’re home, Star Wars fans.

The Death Star

There are Star Wars moments, and then there are Star Wars Death Star moments. With a plot revolving around the latter, we knew we’d see it in the first trailer, but, like the Rebellion before it, there’s something that just so instantly transports you back to a simpler time, the time of the Original Trilogy, when you see the Death Star. The massive planet-killing space station is just being completed when we see it in the trailer, which spells disaster incoming for the Rebel Alliance.

Grand Admiral

We don’t know what Ben Mendelsohn’s character name is yet, but at least now we know his rank. His Grand Admiral cloak drapes solemnly over him in the first introduction to this villain, and later as he walks through a body-strewn battlefield. Of course, Star Wars Expanded Universe (now “Legends”) fans know one Grand Admiral, so for them it’s especially exciting to meet a new one.

Donnie Freaking Yen

We know literally nothing about Donnie Yen’s character in Rogue One, except that he’s a badass. And that’s really all we need to know. In his short sequence, he takes on fully-armed stormtroopers with a freaking staff, easily rocking their worlds. Cannot wait to find out more about him, and what his role in the Rebellion will be.

AT-AT Attack

The end of the trailer sees a group of Rebels storming a beach, and the odds are long. Very long, as they going up against an entire squad of AT-ATs. It’s an especially cool moment, after seeing them on the ice planet Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back, to get a much clearer view of them on this sandy shore, and so many of them clustered together. It also underlines how, especially this early on in the continuity, the Rebel Alliance was really, really out-gunned.