We knew that one classic Star Wars villain would be returning in Rogue One when we finally saw Darth Vader for the first time. Now, we know another will be joining him in the first standalone movie. A new teaser for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens with the back of the head of somebody, but we're as sure as we can be that the head in question belongs to Grand Moff Tarkin. Check it out.
Tickets are now on sale, assuming they're not already sold out, for Rogue One: A Stars Wars Story and along with that game this teaser that shows an Imperial officer overseeing the construction of the Death Star. While that could be somebody other than Grand Moff Tarkin the resemblance is too uncanny to be a coincidence. That has to be the role made famous by Peter Cushing in the original Star Wars. Of course, since Peter Cushing passed away in 1994, that's clearly not him.
There was a rumor going around last year that there were plans to resurrect Grand Moff Tarkin via CGI effects that now appears to have been the case. How much or how often we see the Grand Moff in Rogue One is unknown, we'd guess not that often if for no other reason that whatever CGI they're doing to bring the character back to life is probably expensive. At the same time, the mere fact that they're doing it would seem to imply that the character has an important role to play. It would be a lot of work to do for a simple easter egg.
If they have successfully created a young Peter Cushing via CGI it will be a fairly impressive achievement in digital effects. We've seen actors get digitally "de-aged" in films before, but in every case so far the original actor has been the one underneath the effect. In this case they will have either created Grand Moff Tarkin head to toe as a CGI effect or they will have used a different actor as the "base" beneath the digital makeup, either way, it will be impressive if it comes off as realistic, and it could open the door to all sorts of future possibilities.
Are you as sure as we are that this is Grand Moff Tarkin in the frame? Are you looking forward to seeing the character make a return to the Star Wars franchise or would you rather they not rely so much on the classic characters? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
