Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer drops: Series' new spin-off movie sparks fan debate over 'feminist agenda'

The Force is definitely strong with Star Wars fans after Lucasfilm dropped the trailer for the series' new spin-off film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Directed by Godzilla's Gareth Edwards, the standalone movie has a neat premise: Rogue One tells the backstory of the opening "crawl" from the beginning of 1977's Star Wars: A New Hope. You know, the "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" bit.

And just like JJ Abrams' recent box-office smash Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rogue One is led by a strong female lead – The Theory of Everything Oscar nominee Felicity Jones plays gutsy Rebel fighter Jyn Erso.

Fans immediately took to social media to weigh in on what some irate viewers think is a "feminist agenda" taking over the Star Wars canon.

https://twitter.com/JennaBusch/status/718142252518940673

Uh, what? Newsflash: Women are half the audience of blockbusters and they totally deserve to kick butt. And besides, Felicity is surrounded by a cast of mostly men, including Aussie Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen and Diego Luna.

Plenty of people also doubted Rey (Daisy Ridley) before seeing The Force Awakens, so hopefully the anti-female lead commenters will eat their words once Rogue One comes out.

The film follows a group of Rebels on their mission to steal plans for the Death Star.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will hit Aussie screens on December 15, 2016.