Rogue One: Featurette reveals how the Star Wars spin-off replicates A New Hope

The first of the Star Wars anthology films explores the stealing of the Death Star plans mentioned in the opening crawl of A New Hope

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is only a month away - meaning we're now getting the last promotional push before we finally get to see the franchise's first anthology film hit screens.

A new featurette jumps straight into the production of this ambitious blockbuster, showing off plenty of new behind the scenes footage; alongside a few new shots that haven't yet featured in any of the trailers.

There's a quick shot of some droids in action - one a very similar looking model to R2-D2, albeit with a shiny chrome finish; alongside a better focus on the base on Yavin 4, the same location which later features in A New Hope.

Indeed, one of the most interesting aspects here is how this featurette makes pains to bridge the gap between Rogue One and the original Star Wars trilogy; with director Gareth Edwards even mirroring specific shots from A New Hope in order to provide a sense of cinematic continuity.

"Rogue One takes place very close to Episode IV," Edwards explains. "The simplest way to explain it is - that text you see at the beginning of A New Hope, that is essentially our movie."

For a quick recap, the full text crawl reads: "It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet. Pursued by the Empire's sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy..."

Rogue One follows a wayward band of Rebel fighters brought together for one improbable mission: steal the plans for the Death Star. These events, of course, directly link into the first scenes of A New Hope; when Princess Leia is seen concealing the plans in R2-D2 before she's captured by the Galactic Empire.

The film largely centres around Felicity Jones' Jyn Erso: a criminal misfit who becomes entangled in the Rebellion's ambitious, and resolutely dangerous, schemes. Donnie Yen, Diego Luna, Jian Wen, Forest Whitaker, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, Mads Mikkelsen and Ben Mendelsohn also star.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits UK cinemas 16 December.