Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few weeks, you’ve probably seen the first trailer for the upcoming sci-fi adventure, “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets”. If you haven’t seen it, please check it out as soon as possible because believe me, it’s worth the watch. If you have seen it, you probably asked at least one of the following question:
Who is Valerian?
Why does this trailer remind me so much of “Star Wars”?
Is that supposed to be Jabba the Hutt?
Was that Rihanna?
Well, all of those questions will be answered in this article. Get ready to learn all you need to know about Valerian, his partner Laureline, and this so-called City of a Thousand Planets.
Who is Valerian?
Welcome to the City of a Thousand Planets
Valerian is a time-traveling agent from an old French space opera comic from the 60’s. The film is rooted in the graphic novel series, and believe it or not, the comic was actually the inspiration for many of the things seen in the “Star Wars” films. From character design, to settings, “Star Wars” borrowed quite a few things from Valerian. So, if you think this film is a rip-off of our favorite galaxy from far-far-away, think twice, because Valerian is the original space adventure.
In the film adaptation of the comic, Valerian and his partner/ love interest, Laureline are special operatives for the government of the human territories. They are responsible for maintaining order throughout the universe. I guess you could say that they, “guard the galaxy”, like a group of loveable misfits we all know from another cinematic universe.
Dane DeHaan is Valerian. You may remember him from his role as Harry Osborn in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” or his role as a troubled teenager with telekinesis named Andrew in “Chronicle”.
Cara Delevingne is Valerian’s partner, Laureline. Best known for being a super model and having fantastic eyebrows, this is Delevingne’s third major motion picture following her role as Margo in “Paper Towns” and her role as June Moone / Enchantress in “Suicide Squad”.
Rihanna also has a minor role as a character named, Bubble, who from the trailer, appears to possibly be a shape shifter of some sort.
People seemed to be having a positive reaction to the trailer so far:
“Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” looks completely insane in an awesome way. Cannot. wait. - @copling_joel on Twitter
Valerian actually looks awesome. It looks incredibly visually, and the fact they somehow got “Because” by the Beatles may have tipped it. - @LordLandshark on Twitter
“Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” is currently in post-production and is set to release in July of 2017.