On Sunday, major details about the Gareth Edwards directed stand-alone Star Wars film Rogue One were revealed to fans at the Star Wars celebration in Anaheim. Edwards, LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy, Kiri Hart, Pablo Hidalgo and Idustrial Light and Magic’s John Knoll held a panel regarding the stand-alone film that’ll be released in Winter 2016.

Kennedy revealed that the stand-alone films will be known as the Star Wars Anthology Series and will focus on characters and events beyond the core Star Wars saga. Edwards revealed that Rogue One would revolve around a rogue band of resistance fighters who unite for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans and bring new hope to the galaxy.

Yes you read that correctly. “Stealing the Death Star plans.” That means Rogue One is a prequel to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The official description is that Rogue One is set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, but in terms of its place on the time line, it’s more toward the original Star Wars film.

But rest assured, just because “prequel” is associated with Rogue One, doesn’t mean you should expect the same issues that plagued the Prequel Trilogy.

Edwards spoke about the casting of Felicity Jones, which was revealed last March, stating that her role was that of a rebel soldier (but alas, no name revealed) and that they wanted “fear, warmth and humor” in her character, not a “cliched image of a warrior.” Edwards also put an emphasis on the fact Rogue One would be a war film (stating “It’s called Star WARS“) and focus the “grey areas and realities of war.”

The panel treated fans in attendance to concept art and a brief teaser video about the movie. While Disney has taken recorded footage of the trailer off of YouTube (if you do a search, you can find it), we at least have access to one official piece Rogue One concept art.

Image Credit: StarWars.com

Fans also got treated to the title card of the new movie, showing what the presentation for the Anthology films will look like.

This is what the Rogue One logo looks like, giving you an idea of how the stand alone movies will be presented http://t.co/JW5wl5qixZ—
Peter Sciretta (@slashfilm) April 19, 2015

Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One releases on December 16, 2016.

Sources used in this report:

StarWars.com (report details)
SlashFilms.com (article details by Russ Fischer)