The Star Wars 'Rogue One' Trailer Reveals New & Old Heroes

It's finally here! No, I'm not talking about my Blu-ray copy of The Force Awakens, which was preordered in January and is still stuck on a UPS truck somewhere out there. I'm talking about the first trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The trailer premiered Thursday on Good Morning America, and fans have finally learned the name of the main character, played by Felicity Jones: Jyn Erso is the rebel tasked with stealing the Death Star plans, and boy, does she seem like a badass.

The trailer opens with Jyn in shackles, being read a list of her charges (forgery, possession of stolen property, aggravated assault and arrest). She then meets Mon Mothma – yes, that Mon Mothma; it's not that common of a name – who gives us a little backstory on Jyn: she's been on her own since she was 15, and she's "reckless, aggressive, and undisciplined." Jyn's response: "This is a rebellion, isn't it? I rebel." My anti-authority teenage self is in love. Jyn Erso is so punk rock. It makes sense that our next Rebel hero would be a a sullen orphan; look at Luke and Rey. The Rebellion would be nothing without discarded youth. Take a look:

Mon Mothma then tells Jyn that there's a "major weapons test" planned, and the Rebellion needs to know what it is and how to destroy it. It's then that fans get their first look at the Death Star (well, not first, but going by Star Wars chronology... you know). Jyn's then seen talking to a man who appears to be a rebel and, probably coincidentally, looks a hell of a lot like General Motti, the guy who got force-choked for making fun of Darth Vader's "sad devotion to that ancient religion" in A New Hope. Maybe they're brothers on opposite sides of the war? Probably not, but I'm bringing it up on the 0.0001 percent chance that it's true, so I can point to this later and yell, "First!"

A few other things to unpack: Forest Whitaker as a wise old boss guy, a new kind of droid, all-black Stormtroopers (can't wait to see why they were phased out by the Empire, since they look awesome), maybe some brown Stormtroopers (check out 1:12), a bo staff-wielding Rebel, a brief appearance by the Red Guard and mystery guests, and an AT-AT battle on a tropical beach. Where could that be? The always-reliable Wookieepedia lists a number of tropical planets in the the Star Wars galaxy, but that's too deep of a rabbit hole for me right now. I'm off to watch the trailer about 20 more times. Rogue One will be in theaters Dec. 18.