--- title: Rogue One: Star Wars Introduces New Characters description: Rogue One directors admit some favorite characters won't be in the new movie. canonical: https://time.com/4425913/star-wars-is-introducing-brand-new-characters-in-rogue-one/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-27T21:35:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:44:39.181Z og:title: Why Your Favorite Star Wars Characters Won't Be in Rogue One og:description: Kathleen Kennedy debunked a few rumors about the film og:url: https://time.com/4425913/star-wars-is-introducing-brand-new-characters-in-rogue-one/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4044c0adcdb7cd2e/69888e2ea988ca9c0a6b74f7/star-wars-rogue-one-10.jpg?branch=production&width=800&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 800 og:image:height: 450 og:image:alt: star-wars-rogue-one-10 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Your Favorite Star Wars Characters Won't Be in Rogue One twitter:description: Kathleen Kennedy debunked a few rumors about the film twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4044c0adcdb7cd2e/69888e2ea988ca9c0a6b74f7/star-wars-rogue-one-10.jpg?branch=production&width=800&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The _Star Wars_ Universe Is Expanding With Brand New Characters in _Rogue One_ > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jul 27, 2016 9:35 PM UTC  Lucasfilm Ltd. by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jul 27, 2016 9:35 PM UTC Get ready to meet some new characters in the [_Star Wars_ universe](http://time.com/3742808/star-wars-rogue-one/?iid=sr-link6)—and hopefully all of them will be more welcome additions than Jar Jar Binks. LucasFilm President Kathleen Kennedy answered a few pointed questions about the movie on the _Star Wars_ Celebration red carpet. Apparntely _Rogue One_ will lead directly into the original _Star Wars_ story, _A New Hope_ she told _Extra_. However, don’t expect to see Anakin Skywalker or a young Han Solo make an appearance in the film. Kennedy said that the new movie is a “separate story” and will have “a completely new and separate set of characters.” Kennedy went on to debunk rumors that Hayden Christiansen, who played [Anakin Skywalker](http://time.com/4379840/star-wars-rogue-one-darth-vader/?iid=sr-link1) in the _Star Wars_ prequels, is making an appearance in _Rogue One_, and neither is a young Han Solo, which was [seconded](https://twitter.com/extratv/status/755428380846141441) by director Gareth Edwards. > [](https://twitter.com/extratv/status/755465716866834432) Here are seven things we do know about [_Rogue One_](http://time.com/4284989/rogue-one-trailer-what-we-learned/?iid=sr-link3), and why not watch the [new trailer](http://time.com/4284984/star-wars-rogue-one-trailer-questions-rumors/?iid=sr-link4) on repeat until _Rogue One_ opens in theaters December 16. \[H/T [Business Insider](http://www.businessinsider.com/rogue-one-characters-from-star-wars-not-in-the-movie-2016-7?utm%5Fsource=feedly&utm%5Fmedium=webfeeds)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4425913/star-wars-is-introducing-brand-new-characters-in-rogue-one/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4425913/star-wars-is-introducing-brand-new-characters-in-rogue-one/"},"headline":"The Star Wars Universe Is Expanding With Brand New Characters in Rogue One","datePublished":"2016-07-27T21:35:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:44:39.181Z","description":"Totally new faces","url":"https://time.com/4425913/star-wars-is-introducing-brand-new-characters-in-rogue-one/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","Star Wars","Lucasfilm","Rogue one"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4044c0adcdb7cd2e/69888e2ea988ca9c0a6b74f7/star-wars-rogue-one-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4044c0adcdb7cd2e/69888e2ea988ca9c0a6b74f7/star-wars-rogue-one-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"star-wars-rogue-one-10","caption":"","creditText":"Lucasfilm Ltd.","representativeOfPage":true}],"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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4425913/star-wars-is-introducing-brand-new-characters-in-rogue-one/","name":"The Star Wars Universe Is Expanding With Brand New Characters in Rogue One"}}]}] ```