A quick scene-by-scene:
--Felicity Jones being perp-walked by Rebel soldiers in the classic uniform and silly helmets from ANH. Has it ever been determined where those came from, anyway? Alderaan, perhaps? She's wearing cuffs. Perhaps she's some sort of criminal, a smuggler? Imperial defector?
--Hangar scene, very obviously supposed to be Yavin 4. Classic X-wing in background. Love that. It's a bit brighter than the hangar was in ANH, but perhaps for ANH they went into 'blackout mode' or some such-- they were about to start a battle, after all.
--Control room from ANH. Pretty decent reproduction. Mon Mothma and some sort of Rebel general. No idea if he's supposed to be someone from the movies or the EU. If he's from the EU, Airen Cracken would be a decent fit. Certainly not Jan Dodonna, no beard, and doesn't look like Rieekan or Crix Madine. The actress for Mon Mothma is a *really* good fit though. The costume is almost identical, height and weight looks very much the same, and the face is scarily close.
--Random planet, Felicity Jones in civilian mufti from the looks of it. Gawky droid behind her.
--FJ throwing down with some stormtroopers. Guess she knows kung fu or something. Stuff explodes and sends more stormtroopers flying.
--Ahhh... Imperial-I's. Wotta beauties.
--And then there's this...
--FJ and whomever the male commando/whatever type guy striding out of the Yavin hangar. Bunch of appropriately outfitted pilots running out. I think the flight suits are a *tad* too red, I remember them being more orangeish, but that's only a minor issue.
--White-uniformed Imperial officer with a big-ass rank bar. Apparently holding a pistol. There appears to be a screen similar to the one on the Death Star behind him, showing what might be a planetary map.
--Stormtroopers with some sort of vehicle, perhaps a light tank of some sort. Can't tell if it has treads or if it's a repulsor vehicle. Couple of aliens in the foreground.
--Forest Whitaker! Wearing what appears to be some sort of armour. Who the hell knows what he's supposed to be.
--Fancy black-armoured troopers. Looks like a moisture vaporator in the background, but there's clear greenery in sight, so I suppose it's some other kind of Star Wars equipment. Fire in the background.
--Looks like pilots being perp-walked through some sort of marketplace.
--FJ, some dude that looks like he's wearing Imperial pants and boots, and the gawky droid from earlier, running through a fancy building of some kind. Could be a starship interior, or even inside the Death Star. Who knows.
--Stormtroopers, including what appear to be a version of the scout-trooper, running through similar setting.
--Donnie Yen. He's supposed to be some kind of Jedi Master or something, isn't he?
--Black-armoured troopers firing. It almost looks like they have some kind of silenced version of the E-11.
--A large four-winged shuttle of some sort blowing up. Judging from the palm trees, it's a pretty sizeable craft. Imperial troop transport, perhaps?
--Rebel soldier taking cover in front of an explosion. Some sort of long-barreled blaster rifle.
--That white-cloaked Imperial officer from earlier (but it could be another character with a white cloak) walking across water with dead stormtroopers in it, wreckage in the background. I wanna say those might be X-wings, but I could well be wrong.
--A cloaked figure entering a large chamber with a glowing tube in it and two Imperial Royal Guards. It almost looks like they faded out just as he starts kneeling?
--Forest Whitaker speaking; next shot is a guy running and shooting. He sorta reminds me of the Kanjiklub guys from TFA for some reason.
--Rebel soldiers running and shooting... confronting AT-AT's. It almost looks like the AT-AT heads are slightly different? More glowy red surfaces.
--FJ in a tube that slowly lights up. She appears to be wearing a breastplate on top of what appears to be a loose black jumpsuit with an Imperial emblem on the shoulder, but she also appears to be wearing an Imperial officer's belt? I suppose that might be how they get the plans, though that seems a bit cheesy.
Thoughts: Forrest Whitaker may be leading a Rebel cell on whatever planet they get the Death Star plans from.
A brief Googling shows that they actually used the same actress for Mon Mothma as they had hired for ROTS. A nice touch, that. This article has a slideshow which has a side-by-side image of her with Caroline Blakiston, who played Mon in ROTJ. The resemblance is uncanny. The outfits are extremely similar but not identical (different chains), but the face and build... damn.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/04/07/ ... ory-images
I wonder if they're going to bring back Wayne Pygram as Tarkin? They did a pretty decent job of making him up as a younger Tarkin for ROTS, to the point that it's almost a shame they didn't show more of him...
It's a strange world. Let's keep it that way.
