The European edition of the Star Wars Celebration, the now-annual event where Disney puts the stars of whatever Star Wars movie is coming out that year on stage, hands them a microphone, and doesn’t let them say much of anything, is taking place in London this weekend. This morning, the big event was a panel on the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the first in a series of standalone anthology films set in the Star Wars universe. Most of it was typical panel stuff: Fun anecdotes from the set, promises of big surprises, declarations that George Lucas is a “genius,” actors leaning over and looking nervously at producer Kathleen Kennedy when they were afraid they’d said too much.
But we did learn a few interesting new things at the panel, like confirmation that Mads Mikkelsen’s character, Galen Erso, is indeed the father of Felicity Jones’ heroine Jyn Erso. (He’s also a scientist.) We also found out more about Alan Tudyk’s new mo-cap droid, an insolent seven-foot-tall guy named K-2S0. And while he didn’t say much about his character, Director Orson Krennic, Ben Mendelsohn is clearly really into playing a Star Wars villain. He entered the giant Hall-H style room in full costume accompanied by Imperial guards:
But the biggest revelation from the panel was almost certainly accidental, as Chinese actor Jiang Wen gave away a major plot point involving the relationship between his character, cynical mercenary Baze Malbus, and Donnie Yen’s spiritual warrior Chirrut Imwe. We won’t repeat it here, but if you really want to know, the live stream is available on YouTube. (Wen starts talking three hours and 36 minutes in.)
As far as trailers go, all that was released to the public was a new behind-the-scenes video that suggests a D-Day type battle where the Rebels storm the beach of a tropical planet. Towards the end of the panel, though, Kennedy told the audience to turn off their phones, because she was about to show them something. The live stream cut away to the previously aired behind-the-scenes reel, but apparently the audience in the room was watching a new Rogue One trailer featuring Darth Vader:
Rumors have been going around that a new Rogue One trailer would debut this week, and there’s a Star Wars special, Secrets Of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey, airing tonight on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT. Just saying.
[Special thanks to Esther Zuckerman for additional reporting]