--- title: 'Star Wars: Rogue One' - Check Out the First Cast Image description: Ben Mendelsohn and Forest Whitaker will join Felicity Jones in the film canonical: https://time.com/3999589/star-wars-rogue-one-photo/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-15T20:35:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T10:12:38.870Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Check Out the First 'Star Wars: Rogue One' Photo og:description: Ben Mendelsohn and Forest Whitaker will join Felicity Jones in the film og:url: https://time.com/3999589/star-wars-rogue-one-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Check Out the First 'Star Wars: Rogue One' Photo twitter:description: Ben Mendelsohn and Forest Whitaker will join Felicity Jones in the film twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Check Out the First _Star Wars: Rogue One_ Photo ## Video: News To Get Excited About From Disney's D23 Expo [Watch (HLS stream): News To Get Excited About From Disney's D23 Expo](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FjLT5QnZ.m3u8) (1:39)  _Published 2015-08-15. A lot of big announcements came out of Disney's D23 Expo, including plot details for "Toy Story 4," "Finding Dory" and an entirely new film._  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Aug 15, 2015 8:35 PM UTC  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Aug 15, 2015 8:35 PM UTC Though _Star Wars: Rogue One_ doesn’t hit theaters until December 2016, Disney released the first photo from the film during its D23 Expo on Saturday. The first glimpse features cast members Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen. Jones, who was nominated for an Oscar for _The Theory of Everything_ this year, was up until now the only known cast member. Director Gareth Edwards (_Godzilla_) confirmed in a video from the set in the U.K. that Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker and Mads Mikkelsen would also be joining the cast. > [](https://twitter.com/DisneyStudios/status/632632581998034944) The movie is a prequel that focuses on the people who stole the Empire’s plans for the Death Star in the original 1977 _Star Wars_ film. “It goes into new territory, exploring the galactic struggle from a ground-war perspective while maintaining that essential _Star Wars_ feel that fans have come to know,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3999589/star-wars-rogue-one-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3999589/star-wars-rogue-one-photo/"},"headline":"Check Out the First Star Wars: Rogue One Photo","datePublished":"2015-08-15T20:35:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:12:38.870Z","description":"Ben Mendelsohn and Forest Whitaker will join Felicity Jones in the film","url":"https://time.com/3999589/star-wars-rogue-one-photo/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3999589/star-wars-rogue-one-photo/","name":"Check Out the First Star Wars: Rogue One Photo"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"News To Get Excited About From Disney's D23 Expo","description":"A lot of big announcements came out of Disney's D23 Expo, including plot details for \"Toy Story 4,\" \"Finding Dory\" and an entirely new film.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FjLT5QnZ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-08-15T19:09:25.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FjLT5QnZ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3999589/star-wars-rogue-one-photo/","duration":"PT1M39S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3999589/star-wars-rogue-one-photo/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```