Well, well, well, you think you know someone and then they go and design a weapon of mass destruction. The newest piece of intel out of the Star Wars camp reveals a rather interesting backstory for Mads Mikkelsen's Rogue One character, Galen Erso, who is confirmed to be the creator of the Death Star. Another hero destined to have daddy issues, right? Maybe. It's not all doom and gloom for Felicity Jones' plucky heroine Jyn.
The info hails from the recently-released synopsis of an upcoming Rogue One prequel novel, Catalyst. It dips into the events leading up to the movie. Turns out that Galen has been conducting "energy-based research" that's very appealing to parties battling on each side of the war. He's specifically encouraged by Krennic - that's Ben Mendelsohn's character, the Imperial baddie - who spies an opportunity. See, he wants to harness that research for the Death Star and the Erso family is "deeply" indebted to him after he rescued them from a kidnapping. I mean, who would turn down the chance to advance your life's work and help out the guy who saved your life?
This is Star Wars, so there's bound to be plenty of conflict emerge from this matter. Galen and his wife Lyra believe their efforts to be altruistic, but c'mon, it can't take long before they realise their tech is being used for bad. Something with a name like 'Death Star' doesn't exactly promote optimism does it?
Directed by Gareth Edwards and starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, and Alan Tudyk, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is scheduled to open in UK and US cinemas on December 16, 2016.
