Rogue One: Which familiar faces made a cameo in the new trailer?

The second Rogue One trailer dropped tonight during the Summer Olympics, and we take a look at which familiar faces showed up.

Despite most believing Disney would drop the second full length Rogue One trailer during Star Wars Celebration Europe, last month, the mouse chose to hold off until the Summer Olympics. Perhaps the footage from the well publicized re-shoots was not ready yet, or perhaps Disney was simply betting that the Olympics would be a bigger stage for the reveal.

It’s even possible that Disney simply waited to wait until the summer movie season was beginning to wind down (see Squad, Suicide). Whatever the reason, the trailer dropped this evening, and it was more than worth the wait.

Here’s Saw Gerrera from The Clone Wars, he’s definitely a familiar face. He’s a veteran of The Clone Wars, in fact, and he’s here to help the rebels in their plans to steal the designs of the Death Star.

via YouTube

We will have a detailed breakdown — every single shot here — and it will of course detail all of the new faces we are soon to become best friends with, but let’s take a look at which of our old friends showed up in the new trailer, shall we?

First and foremost, there was the appearance of the one and only Darth Vader. Vader had been confirmed to appear in the movie since way back in June by Entertainment Weekly, but we had yet to see man and the myth himself. All that changed Thursday night, we we were finally treated to the return of the baddest villain, in that galaxy far, far away. As the trailer concluded, we caught the briefest glimpse of Vader himself from behind, seemingly gazing upwards at the plans for the Death Star on a large view screen.

Perhaps even more ominous, throughout the trailer, a slowed down version of The Imperial March aka Darth Vader’s theme. That implies to us, that Darth Vader will play a rather large role in the upcoming film. Might that role be, as we hypothesized earlier in the week, that of the pursuing detective trying to recapture the Death Star plans stolen by Jyn Erso and crew? Whatever his role, Vader is likely to be more than just a short cameo.

Also making an appearance in the new trailer, was one Mon Mothma, whom we had previously seen in the first trailer. Her inclusion is a curious one, as she essentially only appears in two scenes in the previous seven Star Wars films, and only once in a speaking role (Return of the Jedi). Mon Mothma is a familiar face to hardcore fans, but is likely unrecognizable to casual ones. We suppose however writers were given little choice, as recognizable Rebellion leaders aren’t exactly busting out of the woodwork, aside from the principal cast of the Original Trilogy.

Next: Watch the all new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer

So all and all, we were left with just two appearances of familiar faces, which might skew towards the disappointing side, however is in line with Rogue One being a spin-off story. It’s not a spin-off with all your most beloved characters is it? More importantly, is it December 16th yet?