‘Star Wars: Rogue One’ Movie: Casting Villain And Lead Roles

The Star Wars: Rogue One movie is full steam ahead, casting the main villain and lead roles after the controversial break up with director Josh Trank.

Despite the setback, Lucasfilm is moving forward with the Star Wars: Rogue One movie casting. According to a report in Variety, one of two so-called Anthology films Lucasfilm is bringing to the big screen is casting Ben Mendelsohn (The Dark Knight Rises) as the main villain.

As we already knew, Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) has already been cast in the Star Wars: Rogue One movie. Additionally, the same report indicates that writer/producer/director/actor Diego Luna (Contraband) and Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler) also seem to be confirmed at this time.

There were rumors that Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1) was in the running for Luna’s lead, but the speculation is that he was cast in a different role. The Star Wars: Rogue One movie is set between Episode III and Episode IV and is the first non-episode film, directed by Godzilla’s Gareth Edwards.

According to Screen Rant, in the Star Wars: Rogue One movie, “the rebels seek out the plans to the Empire’s first Death Star and execute a successful but costly heist.” The film is described as a “war thriller of sorts that features no Jedi-type characters.”

Variety is also suggesting that this will be a large ensemble, so this may be just the beginning of the casting process and it looks promising. If you remember, at the Star Wars Celebration last month, Gareth Edwards shared a teaser with fans to give them an idea of what they can expect.

The clip is no longer available online, but here is some of what was shown at the time.

“… TIE fighters swarming over a forest planet, with the Death Star looming in the background. This movie will take place during an interesting tangent of the Star Wars mythos. It will still be a time of uncertainty for our heroes, as the Empire maintains a grip on the galaxy. I’m thinking that the members of Edwards’ team will fit that rag-tag label of antihero, but it’s early to tell what he will be going for just based on the casting.”

The Anthology films are standalone movies which can exist outside the realm of the trilogies, but could include familiar characters we have seen in previous Star Wars films. The Star Wars: Rogue One movie is set to be released on December 16, 2016.

[Image via Confraria De Arton]