While the first Rogue One trailer revealed Felicity Jones was playing a character named Jyn Erso, all the other characters remained nameless, forcing us to refer to them by their actors’ names. No longer!
Despite rumours, we can now officially say that this Rogue One character is Director Orson Krennic. Image: Lucasfilm
We now know the names of the action figures we’re going to be buying for the next year, the main characters of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Entertainment Weekly has all the reveals, hot on the heels of their earlier coverage. Here goes:
- Jyn Erso, played by Felicity Jones. She’s the one character we already knew and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy calls her “a kind of Joan of Arc” in the story.
- Captain Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna. He’s a “by the book” Rebel officer who is teamed up with Erso to ground her a bit.
- Chirrut Imwe played by Donnie Yen. Imwe is a “warrior monk” type who is blind and, while he can’t use the Force, believes in it.
- Baze Malbus played by Jiang Wen. He’s the close friend of Chirrut Imwe who doesn’t quite share his spiritual beliefs.
- Bodhi Rook played by Riz Ahmed. More than just a potential Point Break reference, Rook is “the Rebel’s lead pilot”.
- K-2SO played by Alan Tudyk. Referred to as K-2, this droid is described by director Gareth Edwards as “Chewbacca’s personality in a droid’s body. He doesn’t give a shit about what you think.”
- Galen Erso played by Mads Mikkelsen. Galen is Jyn’s father who is a scientist with work desired by the Rebels and Empire.
- Director Orson Krennic played by Ben Mendelsohn. An “ambitious” Imperial officer, he’s hoping to catch the favour of the Emperor while not pissing off Darth Vader. Not an easy task.
We now also know the identity of Forest Whitaker’s character.
He’s Saw Gerrera, an character first seen in the fifth season of The Clone Wars fighting with the Jedi against the Separatist Army. He was semi-trained by Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and even Ashoka Tano. He’s also referenced in Claudia Grey’s latest book, Bloodline. Here’s some more from the EW piece.
By the time Rogue One takes place, just before the events of 1977’s original Star Wars, more than two decades have passed since the events of Revenge of the Sith. As played by The Last King of Scotland Oscar-winner, Whitaker’s Saw Gerrera is bulkier, more battle-hardened with the years, and maybe a little shellshocked. He has continued to fight; and, as he suggested in the trailer, he has become something — and it’s not quite a hero. Rather, he’s a man who has tried to do the right thing by occasionally doing questionable things.
“Consider him kind of a battered veteran who leads a band of Rebel extremists,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy tells EW. “He’s on the fringe of the Rebel Alliance. Even [they] are a little concerned about him.”
There’s more at this link and on the official Star Wars site. The latest episode of The Star Wars Show also has more info on Saw, including the revelation he’s a character created by George Lucas for the live-action TV show that never happened. It’s at two minutes.