Could Darth Vader be returning to the Star Wars movies?

According to dedicated behind-the-scenes fansite MakingStarWars.com (who previously predicted the entire storyline of The Force Awakens with near-perfect accuracy) Darth Vader himself could be making an appearance in 2016's anthology film Rogue One: a Star Wars Story, which is set prior to the events of the original 1977 Star Wars.

The site claims to have it on good authority that the erstwhile Anakin Skywalker’s costume has been re-made for the upcoming prequel, with Vader’s voice actor James Earl Jones also back on board for more raspy pronouncements of evil.

While this is absolutely nothing more than a rumour at the moment, we’re totally getting our New Hopes up.

Think about it – if a group of Rebel scum really were to steal the Death Star plans (as is the plot of Rogue One), who would be most keen to stop them? Probably the fella who spends most of the first Star Wars film trying to get the plans back after they’re stolen, right?

And if you were making a Star Wars movie set at in an earlier time period with a mostly new cast, wouldn’t you want to include one of the most iconic characters of all time who also totally fits into that time frame? Really, the return of Darth Vader could be the whole selling point of Gareth Edward’s spin-off.

Of course you might think this rumour is a little far-fetched, or even doubt the possibility of Vader’s return entirely. To that we say…

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be released on the 16^th December