Diego Luna
Actor Diego Luna, pictured here at the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills in February, is reportedly in final talks to take a leading role in "Star Wars: Rogue One." Reuters

The first of the “Star Wars: Anthology” films continues to round out its cast. It seems that actor Diego Luna is a front-runner to star in the film “Rogue One.”

The news comes from Variety, which reports the 35-year-old actor is in finals talks with Lucasfilm and Disney to take on a leading role alongside confirmed cast members Felicity Jones, Riz Ahmen and Ben Mendelsohn, who will play the principal villain. Although no one from the production of the first “Star Wars” standalone film has made an official announcement or comment, the outlet reports that Luna will be joining the cast for the 2016 flick.

According to IGN, Luna is best known for his role in the 2013 Matt Damon movie “Elysium.” Most recently, he appeared alongside Mel Gibson in “Blood Father.” He’s also responsible for directing the 2014 Cesar Chavez movie starring Michael Peña.

It’s unclear what role the actor will play in the movie, but Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy shared a plot synopsis with the crowd at the annual Star Wars Celebration in California in late April. For those unfamiliar with the “Star Wars: Anthology” films, Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger previously revealed that a collection of standalone movies set in the “Star Wars” universe will premiere every year in between the releases of the new trilogy’s episodes – beginning with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in 2015.

The first of these movies will be titled “Rogue One” and, according to Kennedy, will focus on a rag-tag group of rebels in a daring caper to steal the original plans for the Death Star. The movie will take place between George Lucas’ prequel trilogy and his 1970s original trilogy (between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope” for more devoted fans). Meanwhile, rumors indicate that “Avengers: Age of Ultron” director Joss Whedon is being eyed by the Mouse House to direct the second “Anthology” film focused on the iconic bounty hunter character, Boba Fett.

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