Forest Whitaker Joins Cast of STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE

Variety reports that Oscar winner Forest Whitaker is in negotiations to join the cast of Gareth Edwards' Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One. There's no word yet on which character he'll be playing, but as long as the deal goes through, the veteran actor will join Felicity Jones, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendolsohn, and Diego Luna in the first standalone film of the franchise.

The story takes place between Episode III and Episode IV, but closer chronologically to A New Hope. The plot revolves around a "band of resistance fighters unit[ing] for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans." Though her role hasn't been officially confirmed by Lucasfilm, Jones is said to be playing a rebel soldier, and rumors indicate Ahmed and Luna will also be resistance fighters. Mendolsohn is rumored to be playing the primary villain, and details about Whitaker's role are being kept under wraps for now.

Since it's unclear what the nature of Whitaker's role will be, it's tough to say whether or not he'll be the fourth major black actor in the Star Wars films, behind Billy Dee Williams, Samuel L. Jackson, and John Boyega. James Earl Jones, Lupita Nyong'o, Ahmad Best, and a few others have roles in the saga, but mostly as motion-capture characters or providing voice work. We'll have to wait and see what the details of Whitaker's role will be, but considering Edwards wants to make this a war movie, it'll be interesting to see if he incorporates alien characters in with humans in the quest for the Death Star plans.

Director Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla) told fans to "expect the unexpected" with this film, which arrives in theaters on December 16th, 2016.