Release Date: December 16, 2016 The first film in the Star Wars Anthology spin-off series will take place between the events of Episode III and IV, though, rather sensibly, it will be a lot closer to A New Hope than Revenge of the Sith. Following the foundation of the Galactic Empire, a rogue band of Rebel fighters join forces to steal the plans for the first Death Star before it can be built and used to enforce the Emperor's rule. Interestingly, Rogue One is set in a time when the Jedi are on the verge of extinction, with director Gareth Edwards revealing that the absence of the Jedi hangs over the movie. The Brit has also emphasized that Rogue One will first and foremost be a war movie, concentrating on the grey area of armed conflict rather than following the black-and-white approach of the previous films and showing us the plight of the rank and file soldiers in the middle of an intergalactic war. Leading the cast will be Felicity Jones, and rumours continue to circulate about who her character may be. There were suggestions that she might have signed on to play a live-action version of Hera Syndulla from the animated Star Wars Rebels series set around the same time, though a far more exciting theory from a Star-Wars-geek point of view is that Jones will portray the daughter of notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett.