Ever since Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One was announced, which takes place shortly before the events of A New Hope and deals with the band of rebels who stole the plans for the original Death Star, fans have wondered if Darth Vader himself would be a part of the movie. After all, when Princess Leia managed to place the plans for the Death Star inside R2-D2 and send them off to Tatooine in the original film, Vader said ominously, “there will be no one to stop us this time!” My take on that was that when they got away with the Death Star plans the first time, Vader was a part of that story and — for him — getting them back is personal. He almost has to be in Rogue One.

And if a news report on Birth.Movies.Death is accurate, he will be. According to their sources, Vader “will not be the main antagonist but he will be working behind the scenes, pulling strings and will appear onscreen. Literally, I’m told — he’ll be showing up via viewscreen or holo projection or something.” It’s unknown if Vader will show up as more than an image, but considering what a popular character he is, it would almost be dumb of Disney to not use him. He’s the most famous villain in movie history, and how could they resist getting a chance to use him one more time? And this is pure badass Vader too, before he knew he had any children left alive and got all soft on us, and was just the Emperor’s muscle.

Recently, James Earl Jones returned to voice Darth Vader for season two of Star Wars: Rebels, and although he sounded slightly older (he is 84 now after all) it was still undeniably Vader. Because let’s face it: there’s nothing like the real thing. As long as he’s alive and willing to do it, I sincerely hope Disney hires James Earl Jones once again. Although no footage from The Force Awakens is apparently going to be included in the Star Wars panel at Comic-Con, announcing the return of Darth Vader to a Star Wars film could be just the news to make up for it.

HT: Birth.Movies.Death