Forest Whitaker has recently been confirmed for "Star Wars: Rogue One."
Variety reported that the actor is in negotiations to join the cast for Lucasfilm's anthology film "Star Wars: Rogue One." Whitaker is best known for films such as Lee Daniels' "The Butler," "Bird" and "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai." He won a BAFTA for his performance as Ugandian dictator Idi Amin in the 2006 film "The Last King of Scotland."
"Star Wars: Rogue One" will be directed by "Godzilla" director Gareth Edwards while Felicity Jones of "The Theory of Everything" will star in an undisclosed role, quite possibly as the young Princess Leia. Ben Mendelsohn, Riz Ahmed, Sam Claflin and Diego Luna have also been confirmed to be a part of the film's cast.
Overmental speculated that Whitaker may portray an Imperial Officer or a Rebel in the upcoming "Star Wars" spin-off. He might also do voice work for an alien character. "Rogue One" will focus on a Rebel cell as they steal the Death Star plans.
Although the film is set in the same universe as George Lucas' legendary universe, it is not a part of the trilogy. Furthermore, there is still no indication that "Rogue One" will connect to the main saga. The movie will take place between Episode III and Episode IV but it is chronologically closer to "A New Hope."
"'Rogue One' is the title for the first film in a unique series of big-screen adventures that explores the characters and events beyond the core Star Wars saga," Disney's press release stated.
Kathleen Kennedy is producing the film while Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz have written drafts of the screenplay. Alexandre Desplat will be scoring the film. Greig Fraser has been enlisted as the cinematographer, and prequel trilogy concept artist Doug Chiang is the production designer.
"Star Wars: Rogue One" is slated for release on Dec. 16, 2016.
