Rogue One
X-Wing fighters, one is pictured here at the unofficial "Star Wars" convention, "For the Love of the Force," in Manchester, England on Dec. 3, 2015, are expected to be in the movie "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story." Getty

While “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” continues to shatter box office records, fans have already started to look forward to the next story set to take place in a galaxy far, far away with “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” The movie will be a prequel to “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope,” but could feature a major part of the first film, the classic X-Wing fighter.

TMZ reports that an X-Wing was spotted on set at Pinewood Studios, which is also where “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” was filmed. The set photos of the X-Wing can be found here.

X-Wing fighters are the main fighter ships of the Rebel Alliance in the "Star Wars" films. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) famously flew the fighter in the final battle sequence of "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope" where the rebels took out the Death Star. He also flew one to Dagobah, where he found Yoda in "Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back."

While there’s a strong possibility for X-Wings to appear in the upcoming film it’s not official yet. X-Wings were found in J.J. Abrams’ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” so it’s possible they were just left behind on set.

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” will be set between Episodes III and IV and will tell the story of a group of Rebels who go out to steal the plans for the Empire’s Death Star. The plans were first seen in “A New Hope” when Princess Leia hid them away in R2-D2 to get to Obi-Wan Kenobi and out of the hands of Darth Vader.

Since Darth Vader was chasing after the stolen plans in "A New Hope," he will likely have some sort of role in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story."In July 2015, ScreenRant reported that villain Darth Vader will appear at some point in the film, but will likely not be the film's main antagonist. It's unknown if we'll get to see Vader walking around once again or if he will appear in hologram form.

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” will be the first of the "Star Wars Anthology" films to be released and is scheduled to hit theaters on Dec. 16. The film will star Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk and Ben Mendelsohn.

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