Way back when in July of last year, we reported rumors of Darth Vader making his triumphant return in the first “Star Wars” spinoff film, “Rogue One.” The film follows a band of Rebels in their mission to obtain the plans for the original Death Star, which eventually leads to its destruction.

The story for this film is set to take place prior to “A New Hope,” and as such, it wouldn’t be completely out of place for everyone’s favorite Sith Lord to make his way back into the franchise. What’s better is that this would be Darth Vader in his evil prime, meaning that if he were to show up, then he’d be more dangerous than ever to our Rebel heroes. However, despite the plausibility of the rumor, we’ve received no official confirmation that he would, in fact, make an appearance in the picture.

But don’t give up on this rumor just yet. There has been plenty to support the theory of him showing up, and In a recent post on Making Star Wars, the fan site claimed to have word of not only the Darth Vader outfit in the film, but the overall talent involved.

The site said the following:

“We have it on good authority that the Darth Vader costume as seen in ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ has been meticulously recreated to match ‘A New Hope’ perfectly. By all accounts the costume is so close to the original everyone is very happy and very impressed with the work done by Brian Muir and his team.”

“The coolest part is we’ve learned that James Earl Jones, the voice, the heart and soul of Darth Vader will return to speak Darth Vader’s lines in ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.’ The Darth Vader we all know from the original Star Wars film is effectively back in look, voice, and spirit. There is still no word on if he has already recorded his lines or will in the post-production phase.”

At this point, we don’t have any word on what Darth Vader’s role will be in the overall story of “Rogue One,” though it’s a given that he would be a huge antagonist of sorts. The site went on to recall that in the opening of “A New Hope,” Vader is still searching for these plans, and as such, what happens in that film could potentially be an extension of what he ends up doing in “Rogue One.”

While I do like the idea of Vader being one of the main protagonists of the film, it does may make more sense for him to become involved near the tail end. Perhaps one of the Empire underlings tells Vader news of the plans being stolen in the last fifteen minutes or so on the film, leading him on a violent rampage through the galaxy. This seems more likely to me than him being super important in the film, simply because it would paint him in a rather incompetent light to allow these Rebels to steal the plans from under his nose.

What do you think? What role should Vader plan in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” if any at all?

Let us know in the comments down below!

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” hits theaters on December 16, 2016.

SOURCE: MakingStarWars.net