Diego Luna to star in “Star Wars: Rogue One”

Mexican actor Diego Luna will take on one of the main roles in “Star Wars: Rogue One,” the next film in the famous galactic franchise focusing on the attempt by a group of rebels to steal the plans for the Death Star space station, the magazine Variety reported Wednesday.

Luna’s participation has not yet been confirmed by Lucasfilm, which announced that Felicity Jones (“The Theory of Everything”) will have a main role under the directorship of Gareth Edwards (“Godzilla”) and with the screenplay fashioned by Chris Weitz (“About a Boy”).

Other cast members include Ben Mendelsohn (“The Dark Knight Rises”) and Riz Ahmed (“Four Lions”).

“Rogue One” will be the first “spinoff” of the Star Wars saga and will appear in theaters in December 2016 between Episodes Seven to appear in December 2015 and Eight, scheduled to come out in May 2017.

The plot for “Rogue One” occurs chronologically between the events in Episodes Three (“Revenge of the Sith,” 2005) and Four (“A New Hope,” 1977).

Recently, Lucasfilm announced that Josh Trank had refused to direct the second spinoff, although the Star Wars franchise has gained new life since Disney bought George Lucas’s production company for $4 billion in 2012.

Producer Kathleen Kennedy replaced Lucas at the firm’s helm and sealed the deal with J.J. Abrams to relaunch the space opera with “Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens,” which will appear in December.

The Star Wars saga exploded into theaters in 1977 with “A New Hope,” followed by “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980) and “Return of the Jedi” (1983).

The second trilogy was set prior to the events in the first trilogy and began with “Episode I: The Phantom Menace” (1999), continuing with “Episode II: Attack of the Clones” (2002) and “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” (2005).

In 2008, Lucasfilm aired the animated television series “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.”