Easter Eggs And Hidden Details From The Second Star Wars: Rogue One Trailer
A new Rogue One trailer has dropped and, as you'd expect, it's loaded with goodies: astounding visuals, that iconic Star Wars orchestral score, the vehicles and costumes we all adore from the original trilogy, and, of course, plenty of Easter eggs to pick over and speculate about. If you haven't seen it, you can check it out up top. For those who have, let's start digging into the details you might have missed the first time, and uncover some secrets from the most anticipated movie of the year.
Upside down Death Star
After watching movies and TV shows set in space for so many years, we tend to forget that out there, there's no such thing as upside down or right side up. Rogue One seems to understand this. For the first time in a Star Wars movie, we're going to see a slightly more accurate representation of space physics. We'll probably still see big explosions in space (where, you may recall, oxygen isn't concentrated) and will probably still see most characters entirely unaffected by the absence of gravity, but at least when it comes to space's lack of direction, the Star Wars franchise is taking a note from real science instead of science fiction.
U-Wing
The Rebel Alliance sure loves its letter-shaped vehicles, and Rogue One is adding another to the legendary pantheon of X-wings, Y-wings, and A-Wings, B-wings. Now there's the U-Wing—or the UT-60D, to be exact. It's a transport/gunship used primarily in combat situations to drop soldiers into battle and provide cover fire for them so they can make it to safety. One cool feature of the U-wing is that its s-foils (the pointy bits at the front that make it look like "U" to begin with) can slide backward to give it a more traditional look. Pilots can utilize this feature for aerial support. The U-wing might take its design inspiration from the Y-wing, as they seem to have strikingly similar cockpits.
A New planet called Jedha
Rogue One will prominently feature a brand-new location in Star Wars lore: Jedha, the desert moon featured throughout the trailer. As director Gareth Edwards has explained, "If you believe in the Jedi and you believe in the Force, it feels like Jedha is somewhere you should visit in your lifetime." Think of it as a kind of holy land for Jedi and the Force-sensitive. Donnie Yen plays Chirrut Îmwe, the blind warrior and Jedha native featured the trailer; he revealed in an interview that it's "where they have these resources to build and make lightsabers." That resource could very well be the famous Kyber crystals from Star Wars lore, which, in addition to being the beating heart of a lightsaber, are rumored to be the energy source for many super-weapons throughout the history of the Star Wars universe. Is the Empire on Jedha because they're looking for Kyber crystals?
AT-ACT
Don't get it twisted: Those giant walkers you see stomping all over the beach are not the classic AT-AT walkers you know and love from Empire Strikes Back. Take a closer look at the sides, and you'll notice what looks like large orange shipping crates crammed into their bellies. Since Rogue One revolves around the construction of the first Death Star, it shouldn't surprise you to learn that the Empire used these mechanical behemoths to transport building materials for large construction projects. Hence their name: All-Terrain Armored Cargo Transport, or AT-ACT for short.
Imperial Logos
The Imperial logo is unmistakable. You know it when you see it. And if you watch the Rogue One trailer, you see it everywhere—even on our heroes. We see one on the arm of the android K-2SO, which tips viewers off to his past as Imperial property that was reprogrammed and repurposed as a rebel soldier/assistant. We even see one on the shoulder of a human character. Actor Riz Ahmed plays Bodhi Rook, a pilot who defected from the Empire to join the burgeoning Rebel Alliance. Rogue One is going to put the old saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" to the test, as former members of the Empire will try to coexist on the same team as warriors who have hated the Empire since birth.
Saw Guerra's Hairstyle Change
Remember those re-shoots everyone made a big fuss about? One of the results of can be seen in the trailer. Saw Guerrera, played by Forest Whitaker, must've gotten his hands on some Rogaine, because in the first trailer he had very short, closely cropped hair; in the second, he sports an unruly salt-and-pepper thicket covering his entire head. The new look makes much more sense. Saw Guerrera is a longtime enemy of the Empire, a Rebel who has more than likely been on the run and in hiding for a long time (which might also explain why we've only seen him in caves).
A pilot bloodied no more
Whether the results of re-shoots (or more likely, computer-generated wizardry motivated by a desire to keep the new trailer mostly blood-free for the Olympics), a captured rebel pilot briefly shown in the first trailer makes a repeat appearance here. It's pretty much the exact same shot, but this time around someone must have handed him a towel and some Neosporin; he used to be bloodied and beaten, but and now he's all better, clean as a whistle. Buddy, we know you're a prisoner and all, but cheer up a little. At least you're not running the risk of infection anymore.
Vader
The trailer ends with the money shot, the one thing all fans have been waiting for: Darth Vader. Though we only see the back of his helmet and hear his wheezing mechanical breath, Vader is still a menacing presence. All he's really doing is looking at a futuristic computer monitor like you are right now. He might just be at the office killing time before his lunch break, yet he's still a much more menacing presence than most big-screen villains. Impressive. Most impressive.