The standalone film takes place before the events of the 1977 original film and follows Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and a group of Rebel fighters on a mission to steal plans for the Death Star.
The idea for the film stems from a line in the opening crawl of "A New Hope," which reads: "During the battle, rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star."
Aside from Jones, the cast includes Riz Ahmed, Diego Luna, Jiang Wen, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, Donnie Yen, and Alan Tudyk as a motion-capture character.
Because the film takes place before "A New Hope," legacy characters such as Mon Mothma will appear. Rumors say that characters such as Darth Vader, Han Solo, and Boba Fett may also show up.
"Star Wars: Episode VIII," the sequel to "The Force Awakens," is written and directed by Rian Johnson ("Looper") and is currently wrapping up filming.
Daisy Ridley (Rey) confirmed that the film starts where "The Force Awakens" ended and will feature more of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker.
"When we went back to Skellig to do the opening of 'VIII,' it was so crazy doing the same scene with a different crew of people,” Ridley said. “[Hamill is] amazing to rehearse with, and I’m very excited to be doing the rest of the stuff. It’s such a good story, seriously.”
Source: MTV
Most of the cast from "The Force Awakens" will return. New additions include Benicio del Toro, Laura Dern, and Kelly Marie Tran.
Directed by Chris Miller and Phil Lord ("21 Jump Street," "The Lego Movie"), the film will follow a young Han Solo. And as should be expected, it will feature Chewbacca. Lawrence Kasdan ("Empire Strikes Back," "The Force Awakens") and his son are cowriting the script.
Though the part has yet to be cast, Alden Ehrenreich, Taron Egerton, Jack Reynor, and Emory Cohen are rumored to be in contention for the next Han Solo.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
"Star Wars: Episode IX," the final film in the new sequel trilogy, will be directed by Colin Trevorrow ("Jurassic World").
Josh Trank ("Fantastic Four") was slated to direct the film but is no longer affiliated with the production. It's set for a 2020 release.
Disney CEO Bob Iger has hinted that there will be even more "Star Wars" movies to come after "Episode IX."
"There will be more after that, I don't know how many, I don't know how often," Iger told BBC's entertainment vertical Newsbeat.
George Lucas did imagine "Star Wars" as being one of 12 movies.