New Rogue One Images Include Darth Vader, New Planet, K-2SO Droid

August 24, 2016

Disney and Lucasfilms have released a new batch of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story photos, and they're stunners, including the galaxy's most famous Sith Lord. Let's take a look at the photos and glean what we can, shall we?

First, there's this guy, who is said to play a small but pivotal role in the film. Considering that Rogue One is, in part, a heist film (a band of rebels are out to steal the Death Star plans), and that the object of the heist is what ends up starting all the action in A New Hope, Darth Vader had to be in the film. This is our first look at a still of him thus far:

Courtesy Disney/Lucasfilms

Here's a few new photos of Rogue One's Star Destoyers, which you'll notice are a whole lot whiter than the more gray versions we saw in the original trilogy. The Verge's Chris Plante has an interesting theory on why that is; "All Star Destroyers are initially painted white. The Imperial leaders know this is misguided and will end poorly, but misguided decisions that end poorly is their modus operandi — see the Death Star floating behind the Star Destroyers. Like wearing white slacks to a Puddle of Mudd concert set on an actual puddle of mud, the white Star Destroyers are immediately stained by space debris and harsh UV-rays from close proximity to actual stars they destroy, giving them their familiar muted-grey hue."

Courtesy Disney/Lucasfilms

Now for the new AT-ATs in Rogue One which aren't, actually, AT-ATs. You'll notice they look a little different from the AT-ATs made famous in The Empire Strikes Back. These, folks, are AT-ACTs—All Terrain Armored Cargo Transports. They're larger than the standard All Terrain Armored Transport combat walkers that were featured in Empire. These AT-ACTs have a "dedicated cargo bed for the transportation of heavy building materials or combat munitions," according to Star Wars wiki. "It was deployed at major Imperial construction projects, such as shipyards and sprawling research installations." They can also shoot and destroy things, as just about every piece of tech in the Star Wars galaxy can.

Courtesy Disney/Lucasfilms

Alan Tudyk plays K-2S0 (called 'Kaytoo' by his rebel comrades), a new droid who is essentially the anti C-3P0. Tudky recently gave a primer on the droid's backstory to Starwars.com.

"Kaytoo was formerly an Imperial droid, so he used to be on the other side. He was a security droid and then Cassian, Diego Luna’s character, who owns Kaytoo, has done a memory wipe and reprograms Kaytoo to be a Rebel with the Alliance. Through that process, Kaytoo’s personality changes. I approached it as if he were freed, almost like a governor on an engine that holds the personality back. The Empire was much more of a regimented world where you’re much more forced to be in servitude of the Empire, which historically is the case. When he is reprogrammed, his personality comes out, which is a bit odd. At Star Wars Celebration Europe, they showed a little bit of a clip of him. There was no sound to it; I narrated it. You see Felicity Jones’ character hand me a bag, and she and Diego Luna’s character walk off. And I stand there holding the bag for just a moment, and I just drop it, because I’m not into holding her bag. [Laughs] C-3PO would definitely hold the bag and watch over it. Kaytoo is maybe a bit too honest. At that moment, he’s willful. It makes him a really fun character. For me, it made him much more human. I was very free to act within the confines of the script, but there were a lot of moments I could find, especially with such good actors, to express and be the unique character that Kaytoo is."