Only four more months of waiting. The official trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was unveiled during NBC’s coverage of the Rio Olympics on Thursday, August 11, and it offers the first glimpse of Darth Vader’s return. The highly anticipated spinoff will premiere on Friday, December 16.
Fans went wild over the return of Vader (James Earl Jones is returning to voice the character), which has been rumored since news broke of the stand-alone Star Wars film. His signature heavy breathing could be heard during the last few seconds of the trailer.
The movie is set before the time of the initial 1977 Star Wars film, A New Hope, when the Death Star was being built and Darth Vader was the emperor’s ruthless enforcer. Rogue One stars Felicity Jones as a Rebel leader who plots to steal the plans for the Death Star.
The trailer begins with new character Saw Gerrera (played by Forest Whitaker) explaining that “the world is coming undone.” Then Jones’ Jyn Erso and the superhot Capt. Cassian Andor (played by Diego Luna) are informed about the mission they’ve been selected for. (Do we sense future love interests?)
“There isn’t much time. Every day they grow stronger,” Erso says in the clip. “This is our chance to make a real difference.”
The first action-packed teaser preview for the stand-alone film debuted in April on Good Morning America.
Watch the exciting new preview above!
