With all the focus lately on The Force Awakens, the upcoming 7th episode of the Star Wars saga, it's easy to put aside thoughts of those two spin-off movies that Disney has planned. The spin-offs are designed to give Star Wars fans their fix in between Episodes VII and VIII, and to transform the franchise into one with an annual release strategy.
The plots of the (so far) two announced spin-offs are being kept tightly under wraps. All we know for certain is that Godzilla director Gareth Edwards is helming the first one and Chronicle and Fantastic Four director Josh Trank is attached to the second.
SlashFilm has published an exclusive report today that pulls back the curtain on the plot of Edwards' spin-off, the one to be released in December of 2016. It's entirely possible that SlashFilm's report is wrong, and the writer himself admits that it's a rumor, not a confirmed fact. But there's a very good chance that this is legit.
The rumor states that Edwards' movie is set to fill in a crucial piece of Star Wars history that's never been depicted or even fully explained: how the Rebels got their hands on the blueprints for the first Death Star. Those plans were what enabled the Rebels to discern a way to destroy the massive weapon with a single blow, and largely set Luke Skywalker onto his path.
SlashFilm believes that the movie will reveal that the Rebels themselves did not personally acquire the blueprints, but rather hired a team of bounty hunters to do the job for them. This team undertakes a "Dirty Dozen-meets-Ocean's Eleven" suicide mission, which forms the basic plot of the movie. Obviously, this means the film will be set pre-A New Hope.
The report also suggests that the Millennium Falcon will be part of the movie, though Han Solo will not, so take that as you will. Lastly, the main character of the spin-off movie may be introduced in The Force Awakens. That final bit has lead some to infer that, given the length of time between that movie and Episode VII, perhaps Max von Sydow's character will appear in the spin-off, played by a younger actor.
And what about Boba Fett? He'd be alive and well and in his heyday right about this same time period. Could he be a member of this bounty hunter team?
Ponder the possibilities, Star Wars fans. We've got a long wait ahead.
