Now that the dust has settled somewhat on The Force Awakens, our next cinematic fix for Star Wars is due in December of this year in the form of Star Wars: Rogue One.
The first spin-off in the franchise's history, Rogue One is set between the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy and features a band of Rebel agents attempting to steal the plans for the Death Star that featured in the original 1977 film.
Because of this fact, it's been more or less confirmed that Darth Vader will make an appearance in Rogue One. However, information has been light as to what role he'll play in the proceedings. Until now, that is.
A set report has surfaced online that indicates that a number of stunt-quality armour suits have been made for Darth Vader. What's more, the action sequences that have been storyboarded are much, MUCH more violent than anything in the character's history.
The storyboard sketches, found by MakingStarWars.com, "showed decapitated rebels, people being dismembered by Vader throwing his sword, levitating bodies to make human shields, and so on," which quite frankly sounds amazing.
Director Gareth Edwards, before he began production on the film, cited a number of films as inspiration for Rogue One that struck us as particularly violent. Black Hawk Down, Saving Private Ryan and Zero Dark Thirty were all named by Edwards' as his inspiration for the film, so it stands to reason that Darth Vader would be much more violent than anything we've seen in the past.
Granted, it's entirely possible that Disney / Lucasfilm may baulk at the idea of one of their films being rated anything over 12A and cut those scenes out, but it could possibly happen. For one thing, Revenge of the Sith was rated 12A as was The Force Awakens. Revenge of the Sith featured Ewan McGregor slicing off Hayden Christen's legs at the knees and leaving him to be burnt alive, not to mention MURDERING OUR CHILDHOOD. So, y'know, anything's possible.
With a bit of clever editing and the like, pretty much anything can be pushed through as 12A so we could very well see Darth Vader straight-up murdering Rebel scum in Rogue One. Amazing.