With just under six months left until the release of the next Star Wars movie, anticipation is building. Even if it is a prequel/spin-off rather than the continuation of the saga as we've known it, there are a lot of things about Rogue One: A Star Wars Story that are piquing everyone's curiosity as far as who the new characters are, if and how they relate to characters we already know, and the fact that Darth Vader is involved in some capacity. 

Well, Entertainment Weekly has a new cover story and slideshow feature focused on introducing us to the characters and their significance to the story, which follows a band of mercenaries on a mission to steal the plans for the first Death Star, leading to the opening scene of A New Hope. Meet the gang below.

Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones): On her own since the age of 15, this former delinquent is now in custody of the Rebellion and becomes useful to them for this special operation. Kathleen Kennedy describes her as "a kind of Joan of Arc in the story," but she sounds more like a kind of Snake Plissken. 

Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna): An experienced and by-the-book Rebel officer, he's in charge of keeping Erso in line. 

Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker): A freedom fighter who has already been seen, as a younger man, in the Clone Wars animated series. He's a part of the big heist but some doubt his loyalty to the Rebellion. 

Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen): A blind "warrior monk," as Kennedy describes him, he's spiritually devoted to the ways of the Jedi (but not one).

Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen): Chirrut's buddy who doesn't believe in but respects his pal's interest in the Force. Of the pair, Kennedy says to "think of them as a little like the galactic version of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza." Maybe they're also a human fill-in for R2-D2 and C-3PO? 

Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed): Lead pilot for this Rebel suicide squad, "he tends to be a little tense, a little volatile," says Kennedy. 

K-2SO (voiced by Alan Tudyk): A big, tough security droid with a troubled past, he's described by director Gareth Edwards as "the antithesis of C-3PO" and "a little like Chewbacca's personality in a droid's body." 

Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn): The movie's primary villain, he's an Imperial leader with a squad of Deathtroopers and apparently a dislike for Darth Vader, which would promise a dynamic similar to Vader's with his fellow baddies in the original movie.

Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones): Last seen on the big screen when Anakin Skywalker was fitted with the iconic suit, the Sith Lord is sure to be in prime villainous form.