Rogue One: 8 Reasons To Be Excited Even If You Aren't A Star Wars Fan

The success of Rogue One is largely resting on the shoulders of its brand-new cast, and if you aren't a fan of Star Wars, this can only be a good thing. By bringing some fresh faces on-board and weaving its story around them, it'll be much easier for everybody to have fun with the movie rather than being left in the dark because they don't care about (or aren't familiar with) a particular pre-existing character.

For example, to fully enjoy The Force Awakens, audiences needed to be aware of Luke, and why the Rebels are so desperate to find him. The prequels were similar here, too; they're essentially a glorified backstory for Vader in episodes four through six, so it's best to have seen those first.

Rogue One has no such problem; it's building these people from the ground-up, which means the audience is with them from the ground-up, and Star Wars newbies can jump right in without missing out on a valuable slice of backstory, an in-joke or a character motivation.

Not only is the cast diverse, with a female lead, prominent roles for Chinese stars and space for a handful of strong character-actors, but everyone has proven they have talent. When you combine this with the fact that they're playing completely original parts, it'll be much easier for rookies to enjoy Rogue One without having to brush up on their Star Wars characters first.