Darth Vader Immortal

Darth Vader.


The most iconic movie villain of the 20^th century will return to our screens in one week. I have to admit that I’ve been trying to stay spoiler free with Rogue One, so I have no idea how much Vader will actually appear in the film. I think I only realized yesterday that James Earl Jones was returning for voice work. I mean, I assumed as much, but how much dialogue will Vader actually get in this film?

In Revenge of the Sith, Jones got to spout out three lines of dialogue- less than 30 words in total, something to do with Padme’s death.

I’m not ashamed to admit that in my personal head canon Hayden Christiansen’s Anakin Skywalker from the prequels (and the Vader at the end of Revenge of the Sith) has nothing to do with the Vader we saw in the Original Trilogy. What I mean to say is that, I accept the basic storyline of the prequels, I just can’t imagine that Christiansen’s whiny, bitchy Anakin is really inside of classic Star Wars Darth Vader. Something in my brain just does not allow this to be the case.

Therefore, for me (and probably other people) this is the first time we are getting real Darth Vader on screen since 1983. Hopefully they don’t screw up this time around.


More importantly this may be the last time that Vader is voiced by James Earl Jones, who is now 85.

There are going to be a lot of lasts in the next few years. Erik Bauersfield, who voiced Admiral Ackbar in Return of the Jedi, got to spout a few lines of dialogue in The Force Awakens. He passed away shortly after Episode VII released at the age of 93. Kenny Baker passed away a few months after Bauersfield at the age of 81.  Frank Oz is now 72, so fans can only hope for a reappearance of Yoda in the next few years. John Williams is now 84, Peter Mayhew is 72 and Anthony Daniels is 70. How many more chances will we get to hear Daniels as C3-PO?


Still we have to remember that each reappearance of these characters by the original actor is a gift. If Lucas hadn’t have sold his company to Disney, we might have had to wait for Lucas (72) to pass away before being gifted more Star Wars films. And we probably wouldn’t have had another Harrison Ford Indiana Jones movie either. Harrison Ford (74) is planning on filming the Spielberg (69) directed film at some point in the next couple of years.

Of course there are the fans who could care less if we got more Yoda or 3-P0 or Ackbar or Vader in future Star Wars films. Some fans want new characters. Other fans are okay with characters being re-casted (such as Han and Lando for the 2018 film).

The uncertain thing about the future of Star Wars is that we don’t know which classic characters will be remembered and which characters will fade off into obscurity. Fandom is going to evolve. In 50 years from now, will people even remember Greedo or Admiral Ackbar or Jar Jar Binks? (Let’s hope Jar Jar Binks fades into obscurity)

Vader, though. Vader will be long remembered. Vader will be re-cast as a new voice actor long after James Earl Jones is gone. Darth Vader (like Bram Stoker’s Dracula) will haunt the dreams of children for generations to come. For our children and our children's children he will represent the power of the dark side.