'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' news: need for reshoot explained

Rogue One: A Star Wars StoryLucasfilm

After reports about the extensive reshoots being done for "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" caused panic among fans, the people behind the upcoming stand alone "Star Wars Anthology" movie dished more details about the film's recent developments.

Film director Gareth Edwards explained why they had to reshoot a significant portion of the upcoming movie in an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, saying that redoing some of the scenes is part of their plan.

"We always knew we were coming back somewhere to do stuff. We just didn't know what it would be until we started sculpting the film in the edit," Edwards said. He also added that no major scene had been completely reshoot.

Meanwhile, Lucasfilm president and movie producer Kathleen Kennedy clarified the rumors that the reshoot was made to change the tone of the film. She explained that "Rogue One" as well as the future spin-offs will not actually use the tone of the original "Star Wars" saga.

"One of the things we're doing with these Star Wars stories is embracing the uniqueness of the different genres, and we're very deliberately leaning into the various styles of directors that we're approaching so that each of these movies will very intentionally have a very different tone and style from the saga films," the film producer said in the same interview. "Gareth has shown a stylistic preference that's much more handheld, visceral, inside-the-action kind of feel."

Another report from the same publication introduced Forest Whitaker's character in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story."

The critically acclaimed actor will portray the role of Saw Gerrera, a warrior with a very deep story in the galactic history.

"Consider him kind of a battered veteran who leads a band of Rebel extremists," Kennedy said. "He's on the fringe of the Rebel Alliance. Even [they] are a little concerned about him."

Whitaker will join other stars in the film like Felicity Jones as Jun Erso, Diego Luna as Rebel Alliance Officer Cassian Andor, Riz Ahmed as the rebel squad pilor named Bodhi Rook, Ben Mendelsohn as Imperial Military Director Orson Krenic, Donnie Yen the spiritual warrior called Chirrut Imwe, Jiang Wen as the freelance assassin named Baze Malbus, Mads Mikkelsen as Jyn's father Galen Erso, Alan Tudyk as the droid named K-2S0, as well as Jonathan Aris as Senator Jebel.

"Rogue One: A Star Wars" film will be released in cinemas on Dec. 16.