Entertainment Weekly’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story blowout continues apace with a series of character bios for the movie’s principal cast.
From Felicity Jones’ heroine Jyn Erso to the mysterious figure played by Forest Whitaker – EW has teased plans to spotlight the latter later today – today’s media dump is our first legitimate breakdown of Disney and Lucasfilm’s ragtag ensemble. Much like the cover reveal from earlier today, though, keep in mind that these details do venture into spoiler territory.
Acting as the de facto heroine of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Jones’ Jyn Erso is described as a defiant rebel “with a checkered past.” That’s according to producer Kathleen Kennedy, who went on to reveal that our new Star Wars hero “has been detained [by the Rebellion] and is being given an opportunity to be useful. And by being useful, it may commute her sentence…She’s a real survivor. She becomes a kind of Joan of Arc in the story.”
Further down the casting call we have Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), billed as a “by-the-book Rebel intelligence officer” who is essentially ushered in by the Rebel Alliance to “steady the volatile Erso.” Donnie Yen, meanwhile, is Chirrut Imwe, a blind but formidable warrior who takes a stand against the Empire in the absence of the elusive Jedi.
Here’s what Gareth Edwards had to share about Yen’s fighter:
“This idea that magical beings are going to come and save us is going away, and it’s up to normal, everyday people to take a stand to stop evil from dominating the world.”
Rounding out the principal lineup are Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen), Rebel fighter Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), Alan Tudyk’s droid K-2SO – described as “the antithesis of C-3PO” – Imperial leader Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) and Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) and, as mentioned above, Whitaker’s ambiguous sage.
More details are expected to be unveiled later today, so stay tuned to We Got This Covered for further information relating to all things Rogue One, which is due to arrive on December 16.
