I’ll admit to an occasional gripe about Hollywood’s over-reliance on franchises and lack of original ideas, but let’s be real, I really can’t complain if that means I get to watch a new Star Wars movie every year!

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a standalone movie that isn’t really a true prequel or a sequel (midquel?) to the trilogies; even if you’ve never seen Star Wars (blasphemy!), you’ll likely still enjoy it. In many ways, it’s less like a sci-fi flick and more like a gritty war movie, although die-hard fans will appreciate many of the references.

Minor spoilers ahead!

Table of Contents

About Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

• Fans of the original trilogy know that Star Wars IV: A New Hope, centers around the Rebel Alliance’s mission to destroy the Death Star, a planet-sized weapon of mass destruction created by the totalitarian Empire.
• Fortuitously, Rebels have acquired the blueprints of the Death Star and discovered that there’s a tiny but fatal flaw in the design that could prove to be the key in winning the battle.
• For years, fans have griped about the unlikely nature of this plot point: after all, shouldn’t at least one peon in the massive Empire have noticed a devastating architectural weakness in their super-weapon? And just how did the Rebels get ahold of those blueprints, anyways?
• Rogue One, which takes place shortly before A New Hope, answers those questions while introducing us to new faces and reacquainting us with some familiar ones.
• The new merry band of plucky misfits and scoundrels with the weight of the world on their shoulders includes criminal Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), Alliance veteran Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), defected Empire pilot Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), blind spiritual warrior Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen), ruthless mercenary Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen), and sarcastic droid K-230 (Alan Tudyk).

Outfits Inspired by Rogue One

Jyn Erso

Jyn Erso is a career criminal who has no interest in taking sides in the war. However, when her past catches up to her, she has no choice but to enter the fray. She doesn’t care for the rigid rules of the Alliance, though, and decides to take matters into her own hands. (Seriously, I’m trying to make this synopsis as vague as possible.)