The countdown officially begins for Darth Vader‘s return to Star Wars. With Marvel confirming the Sith Lord’s next chapter is just over three months away, fans can finally mark their calendars and start counting down the days. Far more than just another Darth Vader story, this upcoming return promises to further flesh out unexplored details of his legacy, expanding the villain’s history in a way longtime Star Wars fans won’t want to miss.
Ahead of the 10th anniversary of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars is returning with a vengeance through an onslaught of one-shot releases that serve as canon prequels to the film. Each one-shot expands the backstories of the movie’s key characters immediately before the events of Rogue One, giving fans additional context for their motivations and circumstances while filling in previously unexplored gaps in the canon.
This makes it clear that these won’t be typical Star Wars comic adaptations of already told stories, but rather meaningful additions to the franchise’s canon, making them must-read stories for fans. At present, five one-shots are planned in total. The Rogue One one-shots spotlighting Cassian Andor, Jyn Erso, and Saw Gerrera are all currently available to read, while Chirrut & Baze is set for an October 14 release, followed by perhaps the most highly anticipated entry of them all: the Darth Vader one-shot on October 28.
Where Darth Vader’s Upcoming Rogue One Story Fits Into Star Wars Canon, Explained
Main Cover by David Marquez & Laura Martin for Star Wars: Rogue One – Darth Vader #1 (2026)
While Darth Vader had relatively little screen time in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), his presence loomed over the entire film, reminding audiences why he remains one of cinema’s greatest villains. Vader’s appearances in Rogue One focused on his role as the Empire’s ultimate enforcer, ultimately bringing him into the Empire’s desperate effort to recover the stolen Death Star plans. Star Wars: Rogue One – Darth Vader #1 is set to expand on this period of Vader’s life.
Fans can expect Star Wars: Rogue One – Darth Vader #1 to explore what Vader was doing in the lead-up to the film’s events, further fleshing out his role within the Empire’s hunt for the stolen Death Star plans and his tense dynamic with Director Orson Krennic, who served as the movie’s primary antagonist. Readers can find the official synopsis for the one-shot below:
CELEBRATING TEN YEARS OF ROGUE ONE! WHEN NEGOTIATIONS FAIL, THE EMPIRE SENDS IN ITS ATTACK DOG — DARTH VADER! Director Orson Krennic’s negotiations with the gem-rich planet of Harreld have hit a standstill. Its leader, Harqque, refuses to allow the Empire to mine its rare kyber deposits for use in the Death Star’s deadly super laser. But when the Emperor catches wind of Krennic’s failure, he sends his most trusted acolyte — Darth Vader — to ply the kyber from Harqque by any means necessary.
With a tagline like, “When negotiations fail, the Empire sends in its attack dog — Darth Vader!” it is clear that this story is going to hit hard. However, one of the biggest questions fans may be asking is who Marvel is entrusting with the epic return of Darth Vader, as the creative team could be the deciding factor in whether they pick up the series. Fortunately, fans shouldn’t fear, as fan-favorite comic all-star Chris Condon, alongside artist Luke Ross, will be captaining this highly anticipated return.
Darth Vader’s New Star Wars Story Has the Perfect Writer Behind It
Walt Simonson Variant for Star Wars: Rogue One – Darth Vader #1 (2026)
Star Wars Rogue One Darth Vader #1 cover art
Star Wars: Rogue One – Darth Vader #1 will likely be an instant pull for many Star Wars fans, not only because it brings Darth Vader back as the Empire’s ruthless attack dog, but because acclaimed writer Chris Condon is delivering this highly anticipated story. Condon has quickly become a favorite among comic fans, known for his work on Marvel’s Ultimate Wolverine, DC’s Green Arrow, and his acclaimed Image Comics noir series That Texas Blood.
The 32-page Star Wars: Rogue One – Darth Vader #1 will be available at local comic shops and digitally for $4.99.
Condon’s writing is defined by gritty, character-driven storytelling, with a particular talent for bringing morally complex protagonists and villains to life through narratives with cinematic pacing. Those strengths make him an ideal choice to explore a character as layered as Darth Vader. The only downside is that this won’t be a longer Star Wars series, as seeing Condon take over an ongoing Darth Vader title would have been legendary.
A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Star Wars? “The Force will be with you. Always.”
🗡️Jedi OrderLight-side guardians
⚡The SithRule of two
⚙️The RebellionA new hope
🪓Bounty HuntersThis is the way
👑The EmpireOrder 66
01
The original Star Wars film — later retitled Episode IV: A New Hope — opened in just 32 American theatres and proceeded to become the highest-grossing film of its era, redefining what summer blockbusters could be. In which year did it premiere?
✓ Correct! 1977 — specifically May 25. 20th Century Fox had so little faith in the project they only opened it in 32 theatres at first; queues quickly stretched around the block, and the film expanded to over 1,000 screens within months. It earned $307 million in its initial domestic run, won six Academy Awards (with another four nominations) and inverted Hollywood’s economics for the next 50 years.
✗ Wrong. The answer is 1977. 1975 is when the script was being shopped around. 1979 is when Star Trek: The Motion Picture released as a Star Wars-shaped countermove. 1980 is The Empire Strikes Back. The original Star Wars is May 25, 1977.
02
A New Hope’s writer-director was a then-32-year-old American Graffiti veteran who’d struggled to get the project greenlit and famously took back-end profit and merchandising rights in lieu of a higher salary — the deal that would build a billion-dollar company. He returned to direct the prequels but stepped away from the original-trilogy sequels. Name him.
✓ Correct! George Lucas. The merchandising rights he kept (because Fox didn’t value them) became the financial bedrock of Lucasfilm and the basis of the modern toys-and-licensing megabusiness. After A New Hope, Lucas produced but didn’t direct Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner) or Return of the Jedi (Richard Marquand), then directed all three prequels (1999–2005). He sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 and stepped away from creative control of the sequels.
✗ Wrong. The answer is George Lucas. Steven Spielberg was Lucas’s close friend (and the godfather of his post-A-New-Hope career) but never directed a Star Wars film. Coppola was Lucas’s mentor at USC and at American Zoetrope. Irvin Kershner directed Empire Strikes Back. The original is Lucas’s.
03
In 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader delivers cinema’s most-misquoted line at the climax of his Cloud City duel with Luke Skywalker. Vader severs Luke’s hand and reveals their relationship. The exact line is — for the record — “No, I am your father.” What relationship does it confirm?
✓ Correct! Vader is Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father. The reveal was so jealously guarded that Mark Hamill was only told the real line on set the day they shot it (the script said “Obi-Wan killed your father”), and even James Earl Jones recorded the dub without knowing the full plot context. The line — commonly misquoted as “Luke, I am your father” — rewrote what trilogies could pull off and is broadly considered cinema’s most famous twist.
✗ Wrong. The answer is that Vader is Luke’s father, Anakin Skywalker. The whole foundation of the Skywalker saga collapses to this single twist: Anakin (the Jedi prodigy of the prequels) becomes Vader after his fall. Luke and Leia are revealed in Return of the Jedi to be his twin children, separated at birth.
04
Yoda — the green, ear-twitching Jedi Master — was puppeted and voiced from his Empire Strikes Back debut through the prequels and the sequels by a single Muppet-show-veteran performer who also voices Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear. Name him.
✓ Correct! Frank Oz — longtime Jim Henson collaborator and voice/puppet work on Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle and Grover. Oz puppeted Yoda directly through The Phantom Menace before CGI took over for Attack of the Clones onward, but he’s continued to voice the character through the sequels and animated series. Yoda’s syntax was developed jointly by Lucas and Oz to feel old, foreign and hard-won.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Frank Oz. Jim Henson was Oz’s mentor and collaborator (he created the Muppets) but didn’t voice Yoda. Steve Whitmire took over Kermit after Henson’s 1990 death. Brian Henson is Jim’s son and runs the Henson company today. Yoda is Frank Oz’s.
05
In a deal that reshaped Hollywood, Disney acquired Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion in cash and stock — bringing Star Wars, Indiana Jones, ILM and Skywalker Sound under the Disney umbrella. The deal also kicked off the sequel trilogy production. In what year did Disney close the acquisition?
✓ Correct! 2012 — specifically October 30. The deal was announced with simultaneous reveal that a Star Wars Episode VII was being developed for a 2015 release. Lucas had been quietly preparing his exit from Lucasfilm for years; Kathleen Kennedy had been brought in as co-chair months earlier specifically to take over. The Force Awakens came out three years later, in December 2015, kicking off the modern era.
✗ Wrong. The answer is 2012. 2009 is when Disney acquired Marvel ($4 billion). 2010 is the year before Lucas began signalling exit plans. 2014 is when production proper began on The Force Awakens. Lucasfilm joined Disney on October 30, 2012.
06
The Mandalorian launched as Disney+’s flagship original on November 12, 2019 — the day the streaming service itself launched. Created by Jon Favreau and run by Dave Filoni, the show centres on a helmeted bounty hunter who reluctantly becomes a foster father to “The Child” (Grogu). What is the Mandalorian’s real name?
✓ Correct! Din Djarin — played by Pedro Pascal under the helmet (with body double Brendan Wayne handling much of the physical work). The Mandalorian is widely credited with reviving Star Wars on TV, popularising the StageCraft LED-volume virtual production technology now used across Hollywood, and turning baby Yoda — Grogu — into the meme-economy phenomenon of late 2019. Three seasons have aired with a feature film, The Mandalorian & Grogu, set for May 2026.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Din Djarin. Boba Fett is the famous bounty hunter from the original trilogy, with his own Disney+ spinoff (The Book of Boba Fett, 2021). Cobb Vanth is the Tatooine marshal played by Timothy Olyphant. Bo-Katan Kryze is the Mandalorian princess played by Katee Sackhoff. The Mandalorian himself is Din Djarin.
07
Order 66 — the secret directive that turns the Republic’s clone troopers against their Jedi commanders and effectively ends the Jedi Order — is dramatised in the climactic third act of which prequel film?
✓ Correct! Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). Palpatine’s “Execute Order 66” comm to the clone armies leads to the methodical, planet-by-planet liquidation of the Jedi Order — one of the saga’s most operatic sequences, scored to John Williams’ “Anakin’s Betrayal” cue. The same film features Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side, the Mustafar duel with Obi-Wan, and his rebirth as Darth Vader in the suit. Widely re-evaluated as the best of the prequels.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Revenge of the Sith. Phantom Menace ends with Qui-Gon’s death and the unveiling of Darth Maul. Attack of the Clones ends with the Clone Wars beginning. Rogue One is set just before A New Hope, after Order 66 has long since happened. The Order 66 sequence is the climax of Episode III.
08
Andor (2022–25) is widely regarded as the most adult, politically literate Star Wars project ever made — a slow-burn prequel to Rogue One charting Cassian Andor’s radicalisation against the Empire. The series was created and showrun by a writer/director best known for the original Bourne trilogy and Michael Clayton. Name him.
✓ Correct! Tony Gilroy. He’d previously been brought in for extensive Rogue One reshoots in 2016, and Lucasfilm gave him near-total creative independence on Andor. Season 1 (12 episodes, 2022) is widely regarded as Star Wars’ finest dramatic writing ever; Season 2 (also 12 episodes, in four three-episode jumps across 2025) closes the gap to Rogue One’s opening scene. Gilroy’s prior credits: Bourne Identity / Supremacy / Ultimatum / Legacy, plus directing Michael Clayton (2007).
✗ Wrong. The answer is Tony Gilroy. Rian Johnson directed The Last Jedi (2017). Jon Favreau created The Mandalorian and is Lucasfilm’s Disney+-era animation/live-action lieutenant. Dave Filoni runs the Filoniverse (Clone Wars, Rebels, Ahsoka, the upcoming Heir to the Empire film). Andor is Tony Gilroy’s.
The Force Has Spoken · Final Tally Your Galactic Standing
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Jedi Master — or moisture farmer on Tatooine?
Star Wars: Rogue One – Darth Vader #1 from Marvel Comics will be available to read on October 28, 2026!
