Gareth Edwards, known for the 2014 Godzilla reboot, will direct the film.

Kimberley French / Warner Bros Gareth Edwards on the set of Godzilla Kimberley French / Warner Bros / Warner Bros

The script was written by Chris Weitz (About a Boy), based on an idea from visual-effects supervisor John Knoll. Gary Whitta (After Earth) was originally hired to write the screenplay, but he left the project after writing the first draft.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

The film will take place before the events of 1977′s A New Hope and focus on a group of resistance fighters who attempt to steal the plans for the Empire’s newest weapon, the Death Star.

Source: StarWars.com

Gareth Edwards confirmed that it would be a “war movie” and that the Jedi would be absent from the film.

Knoll got the idea from a line in the opening crawl of Star Wars, also known as A New Hope. The line reads: “During the battle, rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Death Star …”

Felicity Jones will be a rebel soldier and was the first person cast in the film. The rest of the cast was announced during Disney’s D23 expo and includes Riz Ahmed, Diego Luna, Jiang Wen, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, Donnie Yen, and Alan Tudyk.

Alan Tudyk will play a motion-capture character in Rogue One.

Not much is known about the characters, but Donnie Yen described his to The Hollywood Reporter as “good and benevolent”.

Mads Mikkelsen also revealed that his character was a “very important role” and “not a bad guy”.

Academy Award-winning composer Alexandre Desplat (Argo, The King’s Speech) is composing the score.

The film was primarily shot at Pinewood Studios in the UK.

Mads Mikkelsen also confirmed that the film would partially be shot in Iceland, where parts of The Force Awakens were shot — particularly for scenes on the Starkiller Base.

The film began principal photography in August 2015 and will be released on 16 December, 2016, almost exactly a year after the premiere of The Force Awakens.

Rogue One was recently named the most anticipated movie of 2016 in a survey conducted by Fandango.

TMZ leaked photos of what appears to be a classic X-wing on the set of Rogue One, similar to the fighter Luke Skywalker flies in the original trilogy, which also happens to be used to destroy the Death Star.

TMZ TMZ

Other photos leaked from the set show what appears to be a crashed X-wing. Whether the photos of the ship released by TMZ are supposed to be this potentially crashed fighter are unknown, as are the reasons for the possible crash.

RUMOR: One theory says the young Han Solo — who is getting his own anthology film — will make a cameo in the movie.

RUMOR: Diego Luna will play Biggs Darklighter, Luke Skywalker’s childhood friend who perished during the Battle of Yavin in A New Hope.

RUMOR: Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and Grand Moff Tarkin will appear in the movie.

RUMOR: We don’t even have a name for Felicity Jones’ character, but some folks theorize that the young rebel fighter is the daughter of infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett.