Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Reveals New Looks at K-2SO, Jyn Erso, and Cassian Andor

As the promotion for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story continues to ramp up, it’s starting to become clear that while it’s an ensemble film, the story will rotate, as most Star Wars tales do, around a central trio. That’s Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), who look to tell much of the story in this case. Two new images from Empire Magazine give us new looks at all three of them, including the special subscriber-only cover of Kaytoo seen here.

Their cover story will go in-depth with the film, a “boots-on-the-ground perspective of the Star Wars universe,” as Jones described to them. “The idea is that it feels as though you’re actually there. You’re in amongst it.” That’s been evident from the footage released so far, which includes more close-up action and a “war movie” aesthetic that hasn’t been seen in other movies in the franchise. “It is mucky, it is grimy, you’re in the trenches. To bring that kind of vérité feel to this world, that kind of documentary realism, is really exciting,” added Riz Ahmed.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is directed by Gareth Edwards, and is the first of the new standalone films. These films exist outside the episodic Star Wars films, which focus on the Skywalker family, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be present in any way here – Darth Vader (formerly Anakin Skywalker) will make his presence felt in Rogue One, as it takes place shortly before the events of the original Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Jyn Erso leads a cadre of the nascent Rebel Alliance in the film as they set out to steal the plans to the first Death Star, as described briefly in the first movie’s opening crawl.

The other new picture debuted by Empire features Cassian, Jyn, and Kaytoo together on Jedha, the new “Mecca of the Force religion” being introduced in the film, and the location where our team will truly come together.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters December 16, 2016.