New Rogue One Trailer Reveals Better Look at Darth Vader

Star Wars fans have been eagerly waiting for the final trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and today LucasFilm delivered that. The final trailer was filled with more baseline details for the story of Rebel recruit Jyn Orso (Felicity Jones) and her mission, as well as more looks at the supporting characters that surround her. And of course, Star Wars fans were especially pleased to see one particular character make a (re-)appearance: Darth Vader.

As you can see in the trailer, Vader appears to meet with Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn). Other brief moments throughout the trailer show Krennic passionately lobbying Vader on the immense power of the Death Star weapon that was developed by Jyn’s father, Galen (Mads Mikkelsen), who is the “Oppenheimer type” seemingly drafted into Imperial service through coercion.

There’s no telling what Vader’s agenda is (no doubt he’s there at the behest of the Emperor), but there’s been little footage to suggest that he’ll be anything more than a cameo appearance. Our best guess is that he’s there to provide the “motivation” for Krennic to stop the Rebel mission and recapture Galen. Having someone like Vader pulling his leash would make even a scary man like Krennic use all he had at his disposal to complete his mission – which only spells more trouble for Jyn and Co.

So far, Rogue One looks like a smart spinoff of the main Star Wars saga. The narrative and aesthetic connections with A New Hope and Revenge of the Sith are clearly there – yet not so overpowering, so that this story still feels fresh and exciting, even though we likely know its outcome already (major sacrifices by Jyn and crew give the Rebellion a glimmer of hope: Galen installed a single exploitable flaw in the Death Star design that will one day, by way of the force, help Luke Skywalker save the galaxy).

Needless to say, this film is at the top of our “most anticipated” for the holiday season.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens in U.S. theaters on December 16, 2016, followed by Star Wars: Episode VIII on December 15, 2017, the Han Solo Star Wars Anthology film on May 25, 2018 and Star Wars: Episode IX in 2019.