The New Stormtrooper Armor In ‘Rogue One’ Has 'Star Wars' Fans Guessing — PHOTOS

Well, any hope of having a peaceful, regular workday just went right out the window — for Star Wars fans, at least. The new trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hit the internet on Thursday and nothing has been the same since. But the big questions fans are probably harboring after watching the trailer — other than how in the world they’ll manage to wait eight whole months to see the new movie — is: What’s up with the new dark stormtrooper armor in Rogue One? Has the Empire recruited a whole new set of villains? Are they some kind of elite crew of troopers, like Navy SEALS but trained in the ways of The Force?

So many questions, and (in typical Star Wars fashion) the answers will probably trickle out with additional teasers over the next several months. But what we do know so far, thanks to a statement posted Thursday on the official Star Wars website, is where Rogue One fits in the Star Wars timeline. The new movie takes place before the events in the 1977 film now referred to as A New Hope and long before the much-anticipated events in Star Wars VIII (slated for release in 2017, according to The Independent).

That leaves room for all kinds of fan speculation about the meaning behind the new stormtrooper outfits. And, with nothing much to go on beyond Internet rumors about the plans for Rogue One, fans will be left to pick apart all the cool battle scenes in the two-minute trailer. And saying that fans are just excited about the trailer is kind of like calling the construction of the first Death Star “a major weapons test” — it’s a total undersell. Just look at these photos of the new stormtrooper uniforms:

According to The Telegraph, the upcoming film is the first in a series of Star Wars stand alone spin-offs planned by Disney and will be released sometime this December. Like the last major project in the Star Wars canon, the new film has a female lead: actress Felicity Jones will play heroine Jyn Erso, a career criminal tasked by the Rebels to steal schematics for the Death Star. And while the filmmakers have largely kept to the visual style of the original movies, they intended the overall aesthetic in Rogue One to feel more “war movie” than traditional sci-fi, The Telegraph reported. Everything from the startling desert battle scenes to the black-suited, leather-clad stormtroopers — referred to as Deathtroopers in The Telegraph article — were designed to give a more intense, panicked feel to the battle scenes.

Not many more details have been released on the movie, according to news reports. But with a clip that lasted just under two minutes, Disney and Lucasfilms probably gave out enough cool visuals and cryptic clues to keep fans busy for the next few months.