Here’s What To Expect From Darth Vader In ‘Rogue One’

Rogue One is one of the most anticipated movies of 2016. And with good reason, too, as it’s the first Star Wars film to be set outside of Skywalker saga, instead revolving around a group of Rebels led by Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso that attack the Empire and try to bring down the Death Star.

Rogue One is still going to feature some of the most beloved Star Wars characters from the franchise’s storied past, though, and while some of the returning characters are being kept under wraps, we do know that Darth Vader will be in the blockbuster.

Director Gareth Edwards has now been teasing what we can expect to see from Darth Vader in Rogue One, telling the Toronto Sun, “They can expect to see Darth Vader in as true a way of how we perceived him to be in the original movies.”

In order to make Darth Vader as imposing, daunting, and downright villainous in the prequel as he was in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi, Gareth Edwards was lucky enough to get James Earl Jones to return to provide the voice for the character again.

Gareth Edwards admitted in the same interview that he had originally wanted to keep Darth Vader’s appearance in Rogue One a surprise until the film was eventually released. However, he quickly realized that would be too hard a task, as the character is just too big to be kept hidden from the public.

This reveal was eventually made in the first trailer for Rogue One, when Darth Vader popped up in the clip. Gareth Edwards remarked, “I remember thinking, ‘I wonder if they’ll keep Darth Vader was a surprise?’ But you can’t… It’s too much to conceal him.”

Rogue One is the first of a number of new standalone Star Wars films, with a Han Solo film starring Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover already long into development and due out in 2018, while there has long been speculation about a Boba Fett film, too.

Rogue One revolves around Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), who is recruited by the Rebel Alliance as part of a team that also includes Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), the Rebel Alliance Intelligence officer; Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen), a warrior; the Rebel-owned Imperial enforcer droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk); the freelance assassin Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen); and the war veteran Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). This posse is tasked to steal the schematics and design for the Empire’s new super weapon, the Death Star.

The story for Rogue One, which was originally devised by John Knoll and Gary Whitta before the screenplay was written by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy, was inspired by the opening crawl for Episode IV: A New Hope, which reads,

“It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.

“During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

“Pursued by the Empire’s sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy…”

We don’t have long at all to wait for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story now, though, as it will finally be released this coming Friday on December 16. It’s expected to do very well financially, too, as it’s predicted that Rogue One will eventually gross somewhere between $280 to $350 million worldwide at the box office, and it’s hoped that it will come close to matching Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ haul of $2.068 billion.

[Featured Image by Lucasfilm]