Yes, even MORE news coming out of Star Wars Celebration.

You thought new trailers for The Force Awakens and Rebels Season Two were enough? Lucasfilm says PSSH to you! As we now have the first, concrete information on the first “spin-off" film, Rogue One, directed by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla).

Collider has probably one of the most in-depth write-ups of the panel, which was one of the few to not be live-streamed this weekend.

While fans didn’t necessarily walk away with all of the information, what was shared is certainly enough to whet fans appetites (myself included), and justify the idea of a new Star Wars film every year.

Among the tidbits worth referencing:

  • The stand-alone films will be part of a series called Star Wars Anthology.
  • Rogue One takes place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.
  • As rumored, the official log-line for the movie indicates that it involves a rebel heist of the plans for the Death Star, as mentioned in A New Hope.
  • Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) is the lead, a rebel soldier.
  • The movie will be grittier than the rest of the Star Wars franchise, as it will be the first without a Jedi appearing. They’re really focusing on the WAR aspect of Star Wars, complete with the Director of Photography for Zero Dark Thirty and the VFX Supervisor for Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan on staff.
  • Production should begin in the Summer.

Additionally, a brief proof-of-concept teaser, and some concept art were shown. The only versions of each online at the time of this writing are fan-shot, and none are really what I’d call “great", so I’m abstaining from posting them.

Any way you slice it - Rogue One is sounding like it’s on the right track.

One small bit that concerns me - director Josh Trank, who is set to direct a 2018 Anthology Film, was NOT at the panel as originally announced. More on him in our next post, but given some rumors about him through the Fantastic Four production process, this leads me to start worrying. I loved Chronicle, Fantastic Four looks great, and I have strong hopes for a Trank-directed Star Wars - but a last minute bail out due to illness? It sounds like they had an hour worth of panel set without him, so something sounds…off. Lets hope for the best.

Star Wars: Rogue One hits theaters on December 16, 2016.