Friend and filmmaking colleague Steven Greenstreet (and former robot on the LOST beat ages ago) sent me this first hand report that he wrote up and posted to Reddit.
He’s been doing work on Boardwalk Empire and encountered a sage old man who claimed to be in the know.
So I was working one day here in NYC on a popular HBO show. And the main set designer (older low key gentleman) struck up a conversation with me. He noticed my Star Wars tattoo and changed the subject to Episode VII. He said one of his best friends was currently working on the script (with a few other writers). “But I don’t want to spoil anything for you,” he said.
“Um, uh… Fuck it. Tell me everything you know.”
“Well he’s only told me 2 things actually: 1) The story revolves around Han and Leia’s kids. 2) Darth Vader is back.”
I was confused by that last one. “But, wait, we saw him die and his body get burned.”
“You saw a suit get burned.”
“No, then we saw force-spirit Anakin appear at the end of Jedi.”
“All I’m going to say is: Darth Vader is back. Who’s actually IN THE SUIT is the big deal.”
So, there you have it. Take it with a grain of salt. This guy might have been trolling me. But he seemed sincere.
What do you think about Darth Vader coming back? Too much? Does it even make sense?
Obviously this is all unconfirmed rumor territory, but it doesn’t sound like a bad idea and makes lots of sense for Disney and a storytelling sense. It makes sense for Abrams, too.
What’s the last thing we expect to see? Darth Vader, the most iconic villain of all time. Isn’t it interesting to see how that legacy might haunt the Skywalker family? And WHO could be in the suit is the sort of mystery JJ Abrams would be perfect to set up.
But, this could also be the ravings of a wizard, just a crazy old man.
Either way, the idea intrigues me.
UPDATE: Let me go on record by saying this again: I don’t think they’re going to visit the established Expanded Universe. If there are kids involved, the chances of them being the ones we know are slim to none.
Also, I don’t think this is a spiritual or ghost-like threat. I think, if it pans out, it would be a villain, a very corporeal villain, using the iconography of the suit to haunt the legacy of the Skywalkers and wreak havoc across the galaxy. It could literally be anyone, or anything… Or a robot! But also remember that the prequel trilogy changed the perspective of the entire saga, it was no longer Luke’s story, it was the story of the Skywalker family, and front to back, taken as one story, the Saga from 1-6 is really Vader’s story. It would make a nice tie into the future of Star Wars to incorporate the imagery of Vader and what it represents.