The Rebel Alliance is growing.
Variety reports that Rogue One, the first Star Wars spinoff film to be directed by Gareth Edwards, has added Diego Luna in a lead role, opposite Felicity Jones.
The article goes on to say that Ben Mendelsohn, who has been rumored to be cast in the film, will play the movie’s primary villain.
Finally, the fourth confirmed actor is Riz Ahmed, who will also play a member of the Rebel Alliance along with Jones and Luna.
Rogue One is set between the events of Episode III and IV and revolves around the plot to steal the Death Star plans. It’s set to shoot this summer and premiere on Dec. 16, 2016. Other than a few principle crew members and a brief teaser shot that features the Death Star, not much is known about the film.
Mendelsohn has been in a lot of projects recently, with his current role as a villain in Netflix’s TV series Bloodline taking center stage right now. You may remember the Australian actor as Bruce Wayne’s rival John Daggett in The Dark Knight Rises, in which he gets on the wrong side of Bane leading to his gruesome death offscreen.
Based on this role, he certainly has the smarmy, self-serving demeanor nailed down, so it should be intriguing to see if he can step into a larger villainous role.
Luna has moved into the public eye thanks to roles in films like Milk, Elysium and Y Tu Mama Tambien. But he’s also a producer and director, with films like Cesar Chavez on his resume.
Ahmed was one of the breakout stars of last year thanks to his turn as the sidekick of Jake Gyllenhaal’s psychopathic news photographer in Nightcrawler. He brought a disarming, down-to-earth sympathy to the character, and he never felt like he was outmatched by Gyllenhaal, who turned in one hell of a performance.
Meanwhile, still no word yet on Sam Claflin, the Hunger Games star who’s rumored to also be eyeing a role in the film.
Rogue One looks to be assembling an all-star ensemble cast as it tries to mimic the camaraderie and feel of both heist films like Ocean’s Eleven and war dramas like Saving Private Ryan. So far, this squadron is turning into quite a team.