Darth Vader Confirmed to Appear in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

After some ominous breaths at the end of the first trailer and some leaked artwork gave us a hint, it's been officially confirmed that Darth Vader will return as a villain in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Revealed on the next Entertainment Weekly cover, it's not clear who will be inside the suit (presumably the voice will still be James Earl Jones') but we do know he'll be an antagonist to more than just the crew of Rebel fighters trying to steal the Death Star plans.

According to EW's cover announcement, Ben Mendelsohn's Director Krennic - the Imperial military leader we expect to be the primary antagonist - is "eager to earn the favor of the Emperor – and avoid the wrath of his black-masked enforcer."

The write-up also confirms a couple of other characters we hadn't had official word on as yet - Mads Mikkelsen will indeed play protagonist Jyn Erso's father, "a scientist whose knowledge is sought by both sides", and Alan Tudyk's performance capture role will be K-250, the enforcer droid that seems to have joined the Rebel cause.

EW also claims to have a statement on the recent reshoots for the film - we'll update you when we know more about that.

We'll likely learn more about the film at Star Wars Celebration this year, where costumes and props from the movie will be shown off.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's UK News Editor, and he hopes Darth Vader is a real hologram on-set, like Tupac at Coachella. Follow him on Twitter.