Darth Vader cameos in new 'Rogue One' trailer

Posted Friday, August 12, 2016 at 10:51 AM Central

by John Couture

Usually, we hold all of the Star Wars news for our monthly digest, but sometimes the news is too big to hold. A new trailer for Rogue One definitely falls into the breaking news category.

Last month, we heard about the trailer that they showed the audience at Star Wars Celebration Europe but had not released it into the wild. We heard about Darth Vader's cameo and got excited, but still, weeks went by and there were no official signs of it online.

Then, we got wind of a new Rogue One trailer debuting during last night's Olympics coverage and we had to tune in. From what I could tell, the trailer is precisely the one that made its debut last month at Star Wars Celebration Europe, complete with a shot of Darth Vader from behind at the end.

Beyond the expected cameo, though, it was what was new that got us excited. Let's be frank, this film is unlike any other Star Wars film that has come before it and yet, the same familiar elements were there to ensure that we would recognize it as being from the same galaxy far, far away. The original Star Wars film was very much a personal journey for a singular family. As much as Luke talked in abstract about the events that were happening so far from his lonely planet Tatooine, it appears that Rogue One is set to clarify that abstraction.

What will be interesting, though, is that this is a singular film without the promise of a sequel, so will they be able to contain the story to a few scant hours? Of course, you could argue that the original trilogy is the natural continuation of the events depicted in Rogue One, but all of these new characters will need resolution, won't they?

Captain obvious spoiler alert, if they aren't in the original trilogy, then I wouldn't get too attached to them. I do believe that director Gareth Edwards has mentioned from time to time that this film will be much darker than other Star Wars films, and that has us as excited as anything else that we've seen so far.

Rogue One hits theaters on December 16.