Rogue One might be the most gorgeous Star Wars film ever made. It’s full of incredible vistas, strange aliens, and wonderful locales—and behind that imagery is an absolute ton of incredible concept artwork behind it. Today, thanks to the release of The Art of Rogue One, we’ve got an exclusive glimpse at some of that amazing work.
Written by Josh Kushins—with forewords from Rogue One director Gareth Edwards, Concept artist Doug Chiang, and art director Neil Lamont—The Art of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story collects a huge wealth of production and concept art from across the making of the movie, from the evolution of the main characters to moments and vistas that never made it to the big screen. We’re proud to present just a sample of some of the beautiful art in the book below, making its debut right here on io9.
Warning: We’ve saved one particularly spoiler-y image for last, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet, you might want to skip it...
“Pao originated as a sketch for The Force Awakens—just a one-off drawing from a creative brief that never made it into the movie. He started as a guy with loads of long, spiky hair—glam-rock hair, to give you a sense of volume—who is basically just a mouth. For Rogue One, that didn’t work with the military angle, so I replaced the hair with a kind of kepi but kept the big mouth. Gareth liked the idea of him in the battle, turning to his comrades and yelling ‘Come on!’—but his mouth opens far beyond what you’d expect.” - Lunt Davies
The Art of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is available today.