‘Star Wars’ News: James Earl Jones Coming Back To Voice Darth Vader
James Earl Jones is coming back to lend his unmistakable voice to one of fiction’s greatest villains, Darth Vader. But there’s one thing you should know before you drop everything to go camp out for Star Wars: Episode VII tickets already.
That one thing is that Jones won’t be voicing Vader in Episode VII or, presumably, any of the new Star Wars trilogy. Darth Vader will be appearing in the ABC rebroadcast of Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion, a TV movie that will air on October 26.
Aww… sad face. But not too sad, because it will, no doubt, be great to hear the iconic Star Wars villain voiced by the man that made Vader a household name.
“We wanted to do something special for the ABC broadcast,” Executive Producer Dave Filoni told IGN of the decision to bring Jones back to the Star Wars universe. “We’ve added a scene which gives audiences insight into the Inquisitor and includes a cameo by Darth Vader voiced by the distinguished actor James Earl Jones.”
Unfortunately, due to the chronology of the Star Wars universe, it seems unlikely that we’ll hear James Earl Jones’ voice coming out of a big screen version of Vader, unless the new Star Wars trilogy contains some sort of flashbacks. Star Wars Rebels is set between the events of Star Wars Episodes III and IV, at a time when the Galactic Empire is near the height of its powers.
The story follows the crew of the starship Ghost, a ragtag assemblage including muscle-bound warriors, hotheads, old grumps, cowboys, ace pilots, and street-smart teenagers. In theory, the crew will, in the course of its adventures, wind up sparking the rebellion that we saw in full swing by the time Episode VI began.
Star Wars Rebels will be yet another entry in the massive universe that spun out of George Lucas’ imagination. Since Disney took ownership of the classic franchise, the company has been hard at work making sure that everything affiliated with the Star Wars universe – toys, games, movies, books, and television shows – all fits together perfectly. That means James Earl Jones’ cameo in Star Wars Rebels was probably cleared with the company’s development execs in order to make sure it didn’t screw up any continuity for the existing films or the Star Wars films to come.
In case you were holding out any hope for a Vader cameo in the still-to-come Star Wars trilogy, Jones squashed any speculation on that front a few months back.
“Oh no, I’ve got no illusions that I will or even hankerings to be in them,” Jones said, according to The Las Vegas Trend, “but I’m very proud to have been part of the original.”
Just because Jones likely won’t be showing up in the new Star Wars flicks doesn’t mean that their villains will be disappointing, though. The villain for Episode VII is rumored to be formidable in his own right, and it could be that he is the same Sith Inquisitor that will feature in Star Wars Rebels, even though that would mean he’s been tapping into the Dark Side for decades by the time Episode VII kicks off.
Then again, no one really knows too much about who or what will be in the next Star Wars chapter. We do know that much of the original Star Wars cast is coming back to reprise their characters from the first trilogy, but whether they all will be on the side of good is still up in the air.
We also know that some classic vehicles will be returning from the first franchise, including the Millennium Falcon and the iconic X-Wing Starfighters. Unfortunately, it looks like we’re unlikely to see Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 popping up in any new Star Wars movies any time soon.
[Lead image via The Las Vegas Trend]
