We wrote last May about Disney’s plans to release at least three "spin-off" Star Wars films to complement Episodes VII-IX, and now Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger formally announced some details about the first of those films at a Disney shareholder meeting today in San Francisco. The first will be titled Rogue One, and it's set to be released on December 16, 2016—about a year after Episode VII’s release this coming December 18.

While the three upcoming mainline Star Wars movies appear set to directly continue the storyline of Episodes I-VI, the spin-off films will allow side stories some time up on the silver screen. With Disney having dumped most of the existing Star Wars expanded universe down the garbage chute for the dianoga to chew on, the range of potential tales to be told is vast. The write-up on StarWars.com mentions only that Rogue One will be the first movie "in a unique series of big-screen adventures that explores the characters and events beyond the core Star Wars saga."

The title immediately lends itself to speculation—"Rogue group" or "Rogue squadron" first appeared on the screen in The Empire Strikes Back, and its members at the time included Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles, and Zev Senesca (the pilot who located Luke Skywalker and Han Solo after their intimate evening tauntaun getaway adventure). Rogue Squadron flourished in the now-dead expanded universe as an elite group of starfighter pilots; the character most directly associated with the role of squadron leader—"Rogue One"—is Wedge Antilles (although Luke Skywalker was also the commander of Rogue Squadron at one point, as were many others). It’s possible that the new movie will therefore involve Wedge; however, honestly, anyone's speculation is as good as ours at this point.

In addition to the title and release date, Iger also announced that the movie will be written by Chris Weitz and directed by Gareth Edwards (who most recently directed last year’s Godzilla reboot). So far, the only actor announced is Oscar nominee Felicity Jones.

Iger also announced that the next mainline Star Wars movie, still simply referred to as Episode VIII, will be an early summer release for 2017—May 26, 2017, to be exact, which is precisely 40 years plus one day after the original theatrical release of Star Wars in 1977. The movie will be both written and directed by Rian Johnson, who wrote and directed 2012’s Looper (Johnson also directed several episodes of Breaking Bad, including the epic fifth season near-finale "Ozymandias").