Entertainment

Star Wars 'Rogue One' TV Spot Doesn't Show Vader’s Reflection Like We Hoped

But hey, it's nice to watch in between shows, right?

Getty Images / Matt Cowan

Marketing is a funny thing, especially when it comes to the world of pop culture. Every genre has a different way of hooking its audience, and many still don’t have set rules. Such is the case with Rogue One, the first Star Wars standalone movie, which tells the story of the events leading up to A New Hope. Seriously — the movie is rumored to end right before Princess Leia’s CR90 corvette ship, the Tantive IV, is captured.

On Monday evening, the first television spot for Rogue One — titled “Rebellion” — began making the rounds, despite presenting no new information. The spot features scenes cut down from the first teaser trailer, including Jyn Erso’s new famous line, “I rebel,” and Forest Whitaker’s warning on morality as the war-grizzled Saw Gerrera.

For anyone expecting new footage, don’t: TV spots are very often exactly like this, and there’s probably nothing to worry about. While fans got their first taste of The Force Awakens at Star Wars Celebration last April, this year’s schedule was a little different: Celebration 2016 took place one week before San Diego Comic-Con, so the usual fanfare (and last year’s fireworks show) didn’t happen — instead, J.J. Abrams gave Star Trek fans a similar treatment with the premiere of Star Trek Beyond at Comic-Con. But this is far from the beginning of marketing for Rogue One — keep in mind that marketing for The Force Awakens ramped up last Fall with Force Friday (which was basically Black Friday for Star Wars fans) and the world already has a Jyn Erso figure to look forward to.

The only real downer might be that the general public still hasn’t seen what the fans at Star Wars Celebration saw this year: a special trailer featuring new scenes, including a reported shot of Darth Vader’s daunting reflection silhouetted by what was rumored to be fire. It’s not clear how long fans everywhere will have to wait to see any of these shots, but for now, we can at least appreciate the gratuitous cape shots from the teaser.

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