If you’re a fan of all things far, far away you’ll know that this past weekend played host to Star Wars Celebration 2016. Three days of costumes and consumables, tattoos and Tattooine, and the stars of film old and yet to come converged for a memorable weekend.
Kathleen Kennedy and the Lucasfilm story group held court to discuss the reaction to The Force Awakens, talked with Rian Johnson about finishing filming on Episode VIII, hosted Phil Lord and Chris Miller introduce Alden Ehrenreich as the new Han Solo. It was a very busy time.
Among the interviews and the panels (all of which you can see right here) the big draw for convention attendees was the promise of a new trailer for Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One: A Star Wars story. A Behind the Scenes reel had already played in the panel, and we were introduced to the cast and some new planet names, and a new poster.
Then the end came, the BTS reel played again and we thought that was it.
As it turned out this was all a tease, and something new was going to be shown.
The streams then cut off, and Kathleen Kennedy came back out on to the stage to tell we were about see something special. The lights went down and we saw the new trailer for Rogue One which, somewhat surprisingly, hasn’t been released online yet. We took notes, and present here what we can remember.
It wasn’t as fulfilling as the ‘Chewie, we’re home…’ trailer moment from last year’s Celebration but there was something special waiting at the end.
So, until the trailer is officially released here’s a breakdown of what we saw. Turn away now if you want to save the experience for the screen, big or small.
- The Lucasfilm logo appears, the crowd went nuts.
- A young girl (who we presumed was Jyn) was running along a field, racing/escaping from an Imperial shuttle flying overhead.
- ‘There isn’t much time…’ the voiceover begins.
- Hard cut to Jyn Erso and Capt. Andor running on the beach while explosions bloom around them. It’s clear the young girl was Jyn, and in the time since she’s grown up – she’s still running from the Empire.
- Continue Jyn’s V/O ‘Everyday we grow weaker…’ over a new shot of Jyn and some of those binoculars Luke had on Tattooine.
- V/O ‘While they grow stronger…’ Some extended shots and reactions shots of the parade of captured X-Wing pilots being walked through the crowded Jedha market.
- A montage of shots of Krennic and his merry band of Deathtroopers walking across a grassland half on fire, looking for something. We’ve seen some of these shots before, in the first trailer and in the stills released.
- A repeat of the Mon Mothma scene from the first trailer, V/O ‘This is our chance…’
- A new planet? A lush forest, Rebel troops tramping through it – the trailer played a neat trick with these last two scenes. Krennic and his goons were marching from left to right, the forest Rebels from right to left. Like armies marching to war.
- V/O ‘To make a real difference…’
- Some more shots – Stormtroopers on the beach again, a new shot of a Star Destroyer bridge with various Imperial officers doing evil work.
- A new ship (possibly the four-winged Imperial shuttle we saw getting blown up in the first trailer) lands on Tattooine-esque planet.
- More shots, mostly from the first trailer – Krennic looking menacing, Canary Wharf station, white Star Destroyers flying across the Death Star, our rebellion shooting, hitting etc. The music builds.
- Then there he is… well, it sort of looks like him. The money shot was a hard one to work out. It looked like the camera was tracking forward across a black metal floor, covered in red neon light, with various readouts visible in the reflection. In the middle of this red light was the unmistakable silhouette of Darth Vader, though it looked upside down so was quite hard to make out.
Then, of course, the breathing began and the title came up. The crowd were happy.
It wasn’t a mind blowing trailer at all, and certainly we hope they’re going to be giving us a fuller trailer sometime after the summer.
Here are some of the Episode VIII behind the scenes images Rian Johnson shared during the Future Filmmaker panel
Here’s Rian Johnson as a Death Star firing officer (not the HR kind) in Rogue One, he chose a role he knew wouldn’t get cut.
And returning the favour here’s Gareth Edwards in Episode VIII.
