At the Star Wars Celebration where 'The Force Awakens' was first revealed before it went viral online (88 million views in 24 hours!), there was also a treat about next year's stand alone SW film: Star Wars: Rogue One Anthology. Attendants witnessed a brief teaser trailer where after the voiceover of Alec Guinness (a line from SW A New Hope) the camera zooms to a forest on a planet where you can see the death star looming over the sky, rebel ships landing and many rebel soldiers storming out of them during a heavy rainfall. Its plot has been revealed as 'A band of resistance fighters unite for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans'. It is sort of a prequel, but minus all the characters we know, except, maybe, Governor Grand Moff Tarkin? Its director stated that this one will be a WAR movie: no jedis, no sith lords, no clear villains, but closer in spirit to Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down than any prior SW film. It will star Felicity Jones as one of the rebel soldiers. Star Wars: Rogue One will be released on December 2016
Standalone films set during the original 6 movies are the worst thing they could have done, and it's happening here.
I thought that too at first, but the concept of this one got me hooked. I have complained the most Star Wars films have very little 'war' in them. This one is the kind of film I want to see in the franchise. That said, I think stand-alone films about younger versions of Yoda, Bobba Fett, Han & Chewie will be plain stupid. I prefer stand-alones like Rogue One, about new characters in situations only briefly mentioned in the older films.
I heard it's pretty good. Im sure netflix is in talks for something. They seem to be involved in lots of things now.