Who’s going to live and die in the new Star Wars movie

Rogue One has hit cinemas with a new crew of characters but don’t get too attached to them, because most won’t make it out alive.

ROGUE One is totally unique in the Star Wars universe. All we really know about it centres around a couple of lines of text in that famous yellow crawl vanishing into the abyss of space at the beginning of A New Hope.

“It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.

“During the battle, Rebel spies managed steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armoured space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.”

That’s it.

Unlike any other Star Wars films before it is has almost total freedom to create a galaxy full of new characters we’ve never laid eyes on before and a story we’ve never heard before.

But with Star Wars we know this can be risky. Jar Jar Binks has for instance been erased from the Star Wars fandom’s collective memory, as has The Phantom Menace.

But as we already know we won’t see any of these characters again in the later chronology of films and so there is the potential that everyone of them could die horrible deaths in their perilous quest to obtain the secret plans to the Death Star.

We all know from Star Trek, if you’re character doesn’t have much of a backstory and wardrobe department issues you with a red shirt you’ll almost certainly end up brown bread.

So with the long-awaited film opening around Australia tomorrow what better time to take a closer look at the main characters.

But don’t get too fond of them, because most may not get a happy ending ...

DARTH VADER

He’s the Sith Lord the rebels loathe but we all secretly love and he will play an important role in this film. Not only will he again perform the purpose of the arch villain, Luke Skywalker’s dear ol’ dad from the Dark Side will also help give the audience at least some character connection to the Star Wars universe we know so well. The one thing we know about this story is that the rebels do successfully steal the plans to the Death Star which leads to its ultimate destruction so expect plenty of force choking of any Empire underlings who fail him “for the last time”.

CHANCE OF DYING: 0%

Felicity Jones is Jyn Erso, the star of Rogue One.

JYN ERSO

Star Wars has a history of using characters from seemingly humble beginnings only to gradually reveal their true greatness and importance to the narrative. Look at Luke Skywalker, a humble moisture farmer on tatooine whose main ambition was to go to Tashi Station to pick up some power converters. But as we know becomes a great Jedi and defeats Darth Vader. Or Rae in The Force Awakens, who we first see as an orphaned scrap collector who’s importance and abilities with the Force are only now being revealed. Han Solo started out life as a common smuggler and all-round scoundrel but rose to General in the Rebellion to help defeat the Empire. Or even Luke’s dad Annakin who started out life as a slave only to become Lord Vader, the most powerful Sith Lord the Galaxy has ever known.

Jyn Erso is also from similar humble beginnings. She is a female soldier and former criminal. She is detained by the rebellion and given an opportunity to reduce her sentence by helping them steal the plans to the Death Star. All the makings of a classic Star Wars hero.

CHANCE OF DYING: 2%

ORSON KRENNIC

Orson Krennic (played by Ben Mendelsohn) is bad, even though he’s dressed in white.

Despite the presence of Darth Vader Orson Krennic played by our own Ben Mendelsohn, is the primary Imperial villain of this story. He is the supreme military imperial director and the director of advanced weapons research — quite a job title. He is ambitious, cruel and volatile and wants to use the completion of the Death Star to earn favour with the Emperor. But as we know he will ultimately fail and will undoubtedly wind up on the end of a good Force choking from his immediate boss Darth.

CHANCE OF DYING: 100%

CHIRRUT IMWE

Chirrut Imwe (played by Donnie Yen) is the nearest thing to a Jedi in Rogue One.

At the time Rogue one is set, most of the Jedi have been wiped out by Darth Vader and the Empire — with a couple of notable exceptions being Obiwan Kenobe and Yoda. Chirrut Imwe is the closest thing we have in this film to a Jedi, if you don’t include anyone who has turned to the dark side. Although he is not a trained Jedi Chirrut is a kind of warrior monk who has used his devotion to the Jedi ways to overcome his blindness and become a formidable fighter. “This idea that magical beings are going to come and save us is going away, and it’s up to normal everyday people to take a stand to stop evil from dominating the world,” Rogue One director Gareth Edwards said. It helps that Chirrut looks kinda cool too.

CHANCE OF DYING: 10%

SAW GERRERA

Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) made his debut in the animated Clone Wars.

Played by Forest Whitaker Saw Gerrera is known to fans to the 2012 animated series Star Wars: the Clone Wars. In that series he displayed exception guerilla fighting skills and had a fondness for rocket launchers. His rebellion roots hark back to the clones wars where he helped the rebels to take control of planet Onderon against its king who had sided with the separatists. He is an ambitious, in the past declaring himself leader of the rebellion and he remains a shadowy figure whose intentions are unclear.

CHANCE OF DYING: 15%

ROGUE ONE: FORCE IS STRONG WITH THIS REVIEW

BAZE MALBUS

We don’t know a lot about Baze Malbus but we do know he has been a freelance assassin has no love of the Empire. He’s good mates with and the protector of the blind monk Chirrut Imwe but doesn’t share his devotion to the Force and the Jedi ways. He has become a hardened soldier on his Imperial occupied home world of Jedha and will be key member of the Rogue group of rebels trying to steal the DeathStar’s secret plans. His weapon of choice is a heavy repeater cannon. Let’s hope he’s not cannon fodder.

CHANCE OF DYING: 95%

Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen) may go out in a Baze of glory.

K-2SO

Every Star Wars movie needs a star droid and in Rogue One this is K-2SO. The difference here, when compared to RD-D2, C-3PO or even BB8 is that K-2SO is a reprogrammed Imperial security droid which means he has the potential to kick some serious Imperial arse. He is also a perfect double agent for the Rebels being able to effortlessly blend in with other Imperial droids

CHANCE OF DYING: 50%

CASSIAN ANDOR

Cassian Andor is a captain and a veteran spy for the Rebellion. It was he who reprogrammed the Imperial Security droid K-2SO. Andor is assigned to keep an eye on Jyn Erso during the mission to steal the plans to the Death Star as Mon Mothma believes she is reckless.

CHANCE OF DYING: 75%

BODHI ROOK

Bodhi Rook is a former conscripted Imperial pilot and still wears the insignia on his uniform. Although he is only a cargo pilot he is technically savvy. Apparently Rook is the member of the rebel team to come up with the call sign Rogue One.

CHANCE OF DYING: 50%

Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) plays an enigmatic father-figure.

GALEN ERSO

As well as being Jyn’s father Galen Erso is a brilliant scientist and an old friend of the film’s super villain Orson Krennic. Both the Empire and the Rebels want Galen on their side. Rather ominously he is described as the “galactic version of J. Robert Oppenheimer” which points to his involvement in the development of the Death Star. The Rebel Alliance intercepts a coded transmission from Erso revealing a major weapons test is about to take place, resulting in the Rebels recruiting his estranged daughter to join the mission to steal the plans to the Empire’s new super weapon.

CHANCE OF DYING: 99%