In this episode Mark talks about one of his favourite Star Wars films: the 2016 film "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" directed by Gareth Edwards - with extensive reshoots undertaken by Tony Gilroy, who cowrote the screenplay with Chris Weltz. The first anthology film set within the Star Wars universe, the film is both a sequel to "Star Wars: Episode III - "Revenge of the Sith", which came out in 2005, as well as a direct prequel to "Star Wars: IV - A New Hope", which came out in 1977, and serves as bridge between the events of these two eras of the epic space opera franchise. The premise of the film concerns a group of rebels who acquire intelligence that an ultimate weapon capable of destroying entire planets, called the "Death Star", is nearing completion and could be capable of giving the Galactic Empire the means to wipe out any form resistance anywhere in the galaxy in an instant; however, with the assistance of Jyn Erso (played by Felicity Jones), a former criminal, and her connection to Galen Erso (Jyn's father), the research scientist principally responsible for designing the Death Star, the newly formed Rebel Alliance see an opportunity to obtain the technical schematics of the Imperial battlestation from a secure facility so that they may lead to finding a vulnerability within its design that could be used to destroy it. The film also stars Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, Ben Mendelsohn as Orson Krennic, Donnie Yen as Chirrut îmwe, Jiang Wen as Baze Malbus, Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook, as well as other wonderful actors and other instantly recognisable and iconic Star Wars characters who have appeared multiple times throughout the film franchise.
