We all remember the thrilling scene in the incomparable film, “Star Wars: A New Hope,” in which Luke Skywalker manages to blow up the Empire’s largest weapon of mass destruction, the Death Star. However, Luke Skywalker does not deserve all the glory. “Rogue One,” premiering in theaters on Dec. 16, tells the story of the Rebel team that stole the design plans for the Death Star, allowing Skywalker and his team of Rebels to achieve success.

This prequel to Episode IV focuses on Felicity Jones’s character, Jyn Erso, a smuggler on the run from the Imperial Army. She was taken in by the Rebellion and assigned the dangerous mission to steal plans from the Empire about the Death Star. Erso also has a personal score to settle with the Empire: her father, played by Mads Mikkelsen, was captured when she was only a child and now works for Darth Vader and his followers to help build the Death Star. This adds incentive to why she would want to investigate the insides of the Empire when many would look at the task as a suicide mission. The risk is severe as Darth Vader and Orson Krennic, an Imperial officer in charge of the Death Star project, played by Ben Mendelsohn, attempt to put a halt to their mission at all costs.

Jyn Erso joins forces with Captain Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna, an intelligence officer for the Rebel Alliance, Chirrut Îmwe, a blind spiritual warrior and monk, portrayed by Donnie Yen, and Baze Malbus, a freelance assassin working to restore the Republic, played by Jiang Wen. This band of misfits make up the Rogue One mission team.

As the franchise’s fans experienced with “Episode VII: The Force Awakens” last year, little information about the content and the plot of “Rogue One” has been revealed. Though specific details have yet to be revealed, fans are most anticipating the return of familiar characters like Darth Vader to the screen as well as learning more about these new characters and their storylines.

The excitement to learn more about the universe that millions fell in love with in 1977 is skyrocketing as the release of this war story spin-off approaches.