WookieeLeaks: Juicy New ‘Star Wars: Episode 7’ Spoilers
ScreenCrush’s WookieeLeaks is a weekly roundup of everything Star Wars! From Episode 7, to the upcoming spinoffs and the TV shows, if it pertains to that long ago, far away galaxy, we’re covering it here, bringing you our expert analysis. This week, watch the first trailer for the new Star Wars: Battlefront, dissect what we know about Star: Wars Rogue One, and chew on some new spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Star Wars: Battlefront is on the Way and People Have Already Found Things to Hate
After months of anticipation, the first trailer for the freshly rebooted Star Wars: Battlefront premiered and the eagerly awaited video game was given a release date of December 1, 2015. Fans celebrated for about 30 seconds before they instantly started finding things to hate, because that’s that gamers do.
Eurogamer has a fairly succinct rundown on what the new game has to offer as well as what it doesn’t offer, which is why video game fans have started whining and complaining. It seems that this new game, created for new hardware and running on completely different technology, won’t have the same number of options as the Battlefront games from a decade ago. In other words: haters gonna’ hate and then they’re going to buy and play the game anyway. If there’s one thing most video game fans don’t understand, it’s how video games are made.
Here’s an excerpt from that article:
“DICE general manager Patrick Bach told Eurogamer Star Wars: Battlefront does not feature a campaign. Rather, it features “crafted missions” that are played solo, with a friend via split-screen offline or cooperatively online.
Elsewhere, Star Wars: Battlefront, due out in the UK on 20th November 2015 for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, has a maximum player count of 40. However, Bach told Eurogamer Battlefront will include a raft of modes that have different player caps.
During battles players can switch from a first-person perspective to a third-person perspective at will. DICE said you’ll also be able to customise your characters, choosing gear, weapons and abilities – although don’t expect to be able to put a pink cape on Darth Vader.
“There’s a two-player split-screen mode, and the Partner feature means two players can share experience and unlocks, and spawn at each other’s location.”
“Here’s a quote from design director Niklas Fegraeus: “You can storm in as the Dark Lord himself.
“You can wield a lightsaber. You can Force choke the rebel scum, which is fun. Basically, you are the boss of the battle. This means that you, as Vader, can lead your team to victory – if you play well.”
Even if you don’t play video games, a little bit of familiarity with Star Wars: Battlefront will go a long way in providing juicy details about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Electronic Arts has already announced the first piece of free DLC for the game and it’s The Battle of Jakku, aka the battle that lead to all of those crashed spaceships seen in the newest trailer. It seems that this major engagement was fought a year after the Rebellion’s victory on Endor as they took on Imperial holdouts stationed on the outer rim. Apparently, neither side escaped this engagement without a few deep wounds. According the developer, Dice, their game will be the only place in Star Wars lore where this particularly engagement will be dramatized. So now you have to buy it. Sly move there, guys.
And finally, here’s the first in a series of developer diaries that Dice is putting out on the making of Star Wars: Battlefront. There’s not much here that we don’t already know, but it’s always fun to watch insanely talented people hard at work.
Star Wars: Rogue One is Really Coming Together
There have been a few major developments concerning Star Wars: Rogue One since the last edition of WookieeLeaks, so it’s in our professional interest to recap everything you might have missed. You know, just in case. Ahem:
The official, full title of the film is actually Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One. All of the various spin-off films will be “anthology” films, disconnected from the main saga and allowed to tell different kinds of stories across the Star Wars timeline. Filmmakers of all kinds will be allowed to put their own personal touch on the Star Wars universe through these films.
As long-rumored, Rogue One will follow the team who successfully stole the plans to the first Death Star. You know, the plans that led to Princess Leia getting captured and R2-D2 getting sent down to Tatooine to meet Luke Skywalker. What was incorrect is that this is a bounty hunter film. As far as we know, the heroes of this movie will be Rebel operatives.
Director Gareth Edwards says that this will be a war movie. No Jedi. No use of the Force. Just combat between mortal soldiers. His crew includes veterans of movies like Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down and Zero Dark Thirty, so he means business.
In addition to Felicity Jones and Ben Mendelsohn, Riz Ahmed and Sam Claflin are rumored to be joining the cast. If so, this thing is already building an ensemble that rivals The Force Awakens in terms of sheer quality. Those are some damn fine actors.
And finally, footage of the Rogue One teaser that played at Celebration is still hanging out online, just in case you missed it. Like the early teaser Edwards assembled for Godzilla, this contains no actual footage from the film but gives us an idea of tone.
All Things The Force Awakens
Let’s start with the fluff. While out promoting Ex Machina, Domhnall Gleeson did what he does every single time he steps outside: answer Star Wars questions. And as always, he said absolutely nothing. Is he a Skywalker? Is he a Tarkin? Is he actually in the finished film? Who knows! He isn’t talking. He is, however, very good at delivering amazing non-answers:
All I can say is that I want to see the movie just as much as everybody else, and that I’m going in unburdened by the previous ones. I’m leaving all that behind and just going to take this one on it’s own merit. There was an excitement on set about getting to do this that was present everywhere, that I found very inspiring. I thought J.J. was wonderful. The love for the movie was everywhere. I hope when people see it, they have that love sparked. I think if they can do that, then we’ll be in a really good place. I hope that’s what happens.
Let’s get a little more specific, shall we? As fans obsess over every single little thing about The Force Awakens, they have tried to discover the actual location of every known scene. What was filmed where? Well, it looks like we know a little more. You know those shots in the trailers where Poe Dameron leads a fleet of X-Wings over a lake? It seems those sequences were partially shot in England’s lake district, where aerial photography of the area was later combined with CGI:
The Cumbrian lake is being used to create a new alien landscape for the franchise which has also incorporated planets covered in forest, swamps and lava.
While the film’s producers did their best to keep the filming under wraps, news of their activities was revealed in the Keswick Reminder newspaper, as reports that the sequence involved a helicopter for aerial shots had been making a stir in the area.
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Though at the time it was unclear as to what was being filmed it has now been revealed that the production in town was indeed the seventh installment of the Star Wars franchise.
And now, let’s delve into the nitty-gritty and potentially made-up world of big spoilers! Feel free to turn around now. If you do proceed, acknowledge that any and all of the following could be totally false.
Normally, you shouldn’t pay much mind to rumors that emerge from Reddit, but a recent grabbed our attention. These potential spoilers arrived before that Star Wars: Battlefront trailer hit the internet (see above) and they align oh-so-very-well with what we now know about that game. Plus, a few other little details align with previous rumors and spoilers. So there could be a few slivers of truth here. Or it could all be the work of someone who has been paying very close attention to every little leak and knows how to fake this stuff very well. In any case, it’s all fun to think about, so let’s just dive in.
First up, here’s a little background on the desert planet of Jakku and how it came to be settled in the years after a huge battle between the Rebels and the Imperials. If true, this finally provides us with the knowledge of who Max Von Sydow is playing:
Jakku was a wasteland with no population/settlements until around 40 years ago when the star destroyers we see in the trailer crash landed after a nearby space battle. The surviving crew became deserted and set up a colony. The crew were the first settlers on the planet. The battle of Endor took place around the same time as the 'battle of Jakku.' As a result of the second Death Star's destruction and the death of Vader and Palpatine, the empire was in disarray and did not have the time and resources for a rescue mission. Max Von Sydow was the Moff/Admiral/Commanding officer of the Star Destroyer we see in the beginning of the trailer and now acts as the de facto leader of the civilization. He is mad at the empire for leaving them stranded so he has no loyalty to the First Order. He helps out Rey and gives Finn information/evidence about the empire (they're evil) that finalizes his decision to desert. The planet attracts pirates, scavengers, scum, villainy, etc. because of the looting potential of the ship graveyard, so it has become the 'new' Tattooine and Mos Eisley.
If that’s not enough, here are some supposed details on the mysterious villain Kylo Ren. Not only does all of this sound legitimately cool, it makes a lot of sense. Everything we’ve heard about him suggests that he has an obsession with Darth Vader and that the deceased Sith Lord plays a role in the films to follow. So this feels like it could be right:
Kylo Ren. The first six movies have plenty of religious metaphors - the savior, virgin birth, prophecies, etc. The religious theme of VII mirrors the state of the church during the dark ages. For example, Kylo Ren's saber resembles the broadswords that crusader's are famous for using. In real life, there were plenty of false idols - many people claiming to be the second coming of Christ. Similarly, Kylo Ren is (falsely) claiming to be Vader. He is a controversial figure among the First Order. More and more people are starting to believe he is actually Vader because of the 'miracles' he performs (him using the force). He has a sizable and cult like faction of the First Order following him by the start of VII. Ren makes a power grab to gain more power in the First Order. He uses violence and fear to get this power. Finn was okay with how the First Order was operating, but after realizing the evil Ren's coming to power is inevitable, he quits.
So there you are. Those are all of the current spoilers fit to print. Welcome to 2015 ... the new 1999.