Description Of The Exclusive Star Wars: Rogue One Celebration Trailer - Darth Vader Unveiled

By Alex Leadbeater / July 15, 2016

The Rogue One panel at Star Wars Celebration brought us a lot of great stuff - new information about the plot of the film, potential spoilers from Jiang Wen and an exciting new behind-the-scenes sizzle reel that showed just how practical the film would be. Of course, that was all streamed online, so you could experience it anywhere in the world.

However, if you were one of the 4000 in the Celebration Hall, then you got something else - a brand spanking, completely new trailer! I was there in the hall and, let me just say, nothing can compare to the overwhelming excitement as the Lucasfilm logo flickered into view.

When or even if the trailer will be officially released remains to be seen (it may be a Celebration exclusive), although pirated versions will no doubt find their way online - Kathleen Kennedy asked people to not record (and even brought up a "Loose Lips Sink Starships" card before), but I doubt all 4000 people followed that. Regardless, for those of you not lucky enough to be in attendance, here's a quick description (they only showed it once, so it's not as detailed as I'd have liked).

Bar one major moment (which I'll get to, don't worry), the trailer didn't really reveal much more in terms of plot than the teaser (and actually reused a fair bit of the footage in the middle montage - the Canary Wharf running, the Death Star construction, the kneeling hooded figure especially), but what it did is give a better sense of the characters and showcased more of the gorgeous images and action Gareth Edwards and his team have constructed.

It opens on a barren, scorched planet with a young girl running from an invading Imperial shuttle, which is likely Jyn's origins, then jump forward to the set up of the mission; we see beach utopia Scarif dominated by the Imperials while Jyn delivers a rallying speech that shows her actively pursuing action in voice-over.

What follows is a mixture of the Jedda sequence (the town from the first half of the original teaser) and the Scarif assault - there's troopers in the jungle and a lot more of Donnie Yen kicking Stormtrooper butt (or, more accurately, stabbing Stormtrooper neck). As we go on the scope gets bigger; we see a new landing craft with four flaps coming in from below with a Star Destroyer looming in the sky and some aliens in action taking up the Rebel cause. There's also some more of Krennic, the movie's big bad, especially of him on the ground with a support of Imperial officers (oddly wearing a black cap that clashes with his white robes).

Now I will say this: a lot of the footage seems to be from the scenes we saw being filmed in the sizzle reel, just in its beautiful finished form, so if you weren't there don't feel too left out! Well, aside from the ending...

You see, all the awesome I've described fades into insignificance with the final shot. We cut to an Imperial corridor. The camera slowly pans up and we see the blood red reflection of an Empire monitor in the impeccably buffed floor, disturbed by a striking silhouette. Then the deep breathing begins...

Vader. Cut to title.

In truth, you could only hear the first inhale as the half erupted into cheers at the return of the Dark Lord. It was intoxicating, and as the title card appeared it was met with a standing ovation.

And there you have it. The main takeaways are that we'll see a young Jyn, possibly when her father is taken away, and that there appears to be a bigger mission at play than just a single heist. Oh, and that the film looks awesome. There was of course a lot more that came out of the Rogue One panel, which we'll be dissecting over the next couple of days, along with every other major reveal from across the Star Wars Celebration weekend. Stay tuned!

Star Wars: Rogue One is in cinemas from December 16th.