Darth Vader: Will He Return In The New ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy?

Darth Vader has been turning up more and more in search results after news broke of a half-human, half-cyborg villain, possibly played by Adam Driver, in the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII. But just how possible is it that we’ll see a return?

Given director J.J. Abrams’ track record with Star Trek, we’d say it’s pretty likely.

Abrams has shown in his handling of the other sci-fi series that he just can’t seem to control himself when it comes to bringing back famous characters.

Squeezing Leonard Nimoy into the 2009 reboot of Star Trek even proved that he’s not above stretching the boundaries of logic to make it happen.

The fact he couldn’t get past a second film before bringing Khan Noonien Singh into the lives of the Starship Enterprise crew further cements the point, and hints that we may see Darth Vader sooner rather than later.

That being said, if it does happen, we don’t think it’ll be Driver in the part.

Let’s keep in mind that by the time Return of the Jedi closed out the original trilogy, Darth Vader (aka Anakin Skywalker) had serious doubts whether he wanted to be a bad guy anymore.

In his final act — we’ll put a SPOILER ALERT here, but seriously!? — he even turned against the Emperor and saved son Luke (Mark Hamill) from certain death, thus defeating the Dark Side within himself.

Therefore, even though Lord Vader is considered one of film’s greatest bad guys, he ended on the side of good. Might we see him start from that point whenever he does make an appearance?

If so, the obvious prediction is that your future Darth Vader turns out to be Luke Skywalker himself.

Of course, that would mean something bad happens to Luke to get him there, and it’s not clear whether excited Star Wars fans will allow their beloved original heroes to be harmed in any way.

It would definitely be a risky move.

Our personal preference: leave it alone. Darth Vader was a great character, but bringing him back seems a tad contrived, don’t you think?

After all, the new villains, called “inquisitors” (no relation), seem pretty cool on their own. Do we really need to redo everything?

What do you think, readers? Are the new Star Wars films ready for a second Darth Vader? If so, how would you bring him back — hero, villain? If not, what would you rather see Luke and the gang go up against?