Darth Vader will be in Star Wars Rogue One with James Earl Jones reprising his role as Vader’s foreboding voice, while a variety of large-framed performers will embody the character behind the mask. This is great news for fans of the franchise and the character.
Ever since Lucasfilm announced that the plot of its first stand-alone movie would focus on the Rebel warriors who staged a heist of plans for the first Death Star. Rogue One is a new kind of movie for Lucasfilm, a story that explores territory beyond the core “saga” films of the first three classic movies, George Lucas’ prequels, and the new trilogy that started with J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens and will continue in 2017 with director Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII. The next stand-alone film after Rogue One will be a young Han Solo story, coming out in 2018, which delves into the history of the captain of the Millennium Falcon long before he encounters Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi in that cantina on Tatooine, according to EW.
Lucasfilm has said the main difference between the features is that the “saga” films are focused mainly on the Skywalker family – but now we know that doesn’t mean Rogue One will be completely devoid of Skywalkers.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy was asked about which characters from the original trilogy may turn up alongside the new heroes and villains. Kennedy said: “I think we can talk about Vader…”
Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) leads the cast of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and is joined by Diego Luna (Milk, Killing Them Softly), Ben Mendelsohn (“Bloodline,” Mississippi Grind), Donnie Yen (Ip Man, Blade II), Jiang Wen (Let the Bullets Fly, Devils on the Doorstep), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland), Mads Mikkelsen (“Hannibal,” Casino Royale), Alan Tudyk (“Firefly”) who plays a performance-capture character in the film, and Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler, Four Lions).
Rogue One tells the story of resistance fighters who have united to steal plans to the dreaded Death Star. “Rogue One takes place before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope and will be a departure from the saga films but have elements that are familiar to the Star Wars universe,” said Kathleen Kennedy. “It goes into new territory, exploring the galactic struggle from a ground-war perspective while maintaining that essential Star Wars feel that fans have come to know. Gareth is such an innovative director and I’m so excited to be working with him and the extraordinary ensemble cast he’s selected for ‘Rogue One.’”
John Knoll, the Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor who currently serves as chief creative officer at Industrial Light & Magic, is executive producing the film along with Simon Emanuel (The Dark Knight Rises, Fast & Furious 6) and Jason McGatlin (Tintin, War of the Worlds). Kathleen Kennedy and Tony To (“Band of Brothers,” “The Pacific”) are on board to produce with John Swartz (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) attached to co-produce. It was also recently confirmed that Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The King’s Speech) will be providing the score.
Directed by Gareth Edwards, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set for release on December 16, 2016.
What do you think of the inclusion of Darth Vader in Rogue One? Are you excited for the film? Sound off below in the comments section.