The Actor Behind the Mask of Darth Vader in Rogue One May Not Be Who You Thought He Was

Three actors worked together to bring Vader to the screen in Rogue One – James Earl Jones provided the classic voice, while actors Spencer Wilding and Daniel Naprous donned the suit. But which man was behind the mask in the various appearances of the dark lord on screen?  That answer has finally been revealed.

 

Having confirmed early last year that the big man himself, Darth Vader, would be returning to the galaxy far, far away, most fans already knew who would be voicing Vader for his return to the screen (James Earl Jones). However, who was the man behind the suit and mask of the evil Sith Lord, one of cinema’s most iconic characters in the history of film? In truth, there were actually two actors who played Vader in the first spin-off film. Spencer Wilding and Daniel Naprous both handled the role at different points in the film, and each studied the original Vader role (played originally by actor David Prowse) vigorously.

 

JediNews has uncovered a Facebook piece from Showmasters Jason Joiner, that clarifies which actor played Darth Vader in the suit in each scene. Also, during the Facebook chat the Sith Lord himself, Spencer Wilding chimed in to thank Jason.

 

 

The scene-by-scene breakdown is as follows:

 

Daniel Naprous played Darth Vader in the scenes in Vader’s castle on Mustafar, including his introduction where we see him in the tank without his suit…

 

 

Spencer Wilding gave us our first glimpse of Vader in Rogue One in this shot from the trailer with the dark lord looking at a display screen, however, this scene, along with most of Wilding’s performances were cut from the theatrical version of the film.

 

 

 

Daniel Naprous is also the man behind the mask in the famous rebel massacre scene aboard the Profundity as he attempts to recover the plans before they are passed off to the crew of the Tantive IV.

 

 

 

One scene that is not discussed is the infamous heated confrontation between Vader and Director Krennic.  Hmmmm! I wonder who was in the suit for this deleted scene.

 

 

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this revelation is that the actor who got the most buzz about being in the suit before the film’s release (Spencer Wilding) seems to have had most of his scenes cut from the film, while Daniel Naprous – the hollywood stuntman who appeared almost exclusively as Vader in the final cut of the movie – has largely gone unnoticed.  He even remains uncredited for the role on his own imdb page (although his name does appear under Vader on the Rogue One movie page).

 

 

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37 thoughts on “The Actor Behind the Mask of Darth Vader in Rogue One May Not Be Who You Thought He Was

  • January 19, 2017 at 11:19 pm
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    So Spencer was not in the movie at all?!

    • January 19, 2017 at 11:31 pm
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      I believe he was in the scene where Vader say’s “prepare a boarding party”

    • January 20, 2017 at 12:57 am
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      He was in the scenes on Mustafar, I believe.

      • January 20, 2017 at 5:32 am
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        Not what this article seems to imply.

      • January 20, 2017 at 7:57 am
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        Well, like Kicker2 says: “Daniel Naprous played Darth Vader in the scenes in Vader’s castle on Mustafar, including his introduction where we see him in the tank without his suit…” the article implies it was Naprous as well…

        • January 20, 2017 at 3:35 pm
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          Ah, you;re correct. I guess Spencer Wilding was indeed cut out of the film. That’s unfortunate.

          • January 20, 2017 at 9:33 pm
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            I’m kinda suspicious of this source looking at his page and the said post.

  • January 19, 2017 at 11:38 pm
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    I hope they had James Earl Jones dialogue complete for these scenes…it’d be sad to see these go completely unseen.

    • January 20, 2017 at 6:39 am
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      of course they did JEJ is the voice of vader

  • January 19, 2017 at 11:57 pm
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    “Also, during the Facebook chat the Sith Lord himself, Spencer Wilding chimed in to thank Jason.”

    Doesn’t look like he’s thanking him to me – more like having an argument. Are you sure about this info? I’m sure Daniel Naprous played Vader in the final corridor scene, but not so sure about the earlier ones.

    • January 20, 2017 at 7:53 am
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      It’s an argument for sure. I’m trying to read up on this Joiner guy.

  • January 19, 2017 at 11:58 pm
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    It’s by no means a concise list, just speculation from Mr. Joiner as neither actor has stated for the record which scenes they specifically shot 😉

  • January 20, 2017 at 4:36 am
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    Still upset that those scenes were cut. This is probably the last chance to have James Earl Jones as Vader on the big screen and they cut a bunch of his scenes and give him only 7 minutes of screen time. Now I have to settle for watching a bunch of disjointed deleted scenes on tiny screens 6 months after the movie’s run. And that’s assumes they release the deleted scenes ! -_-;

    • January 20, 2017 at 3:49 pm
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      I’d rather have less Vader and have good, well-directed scenes than have a bunch of Vader shit for no reason, that doesn’t contribute to the story and fucks up everyone’s experience of Vader.

      • January 20, 2017 at 4:38 pm
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        Me too. But What I want even more is more Vader with good well directed scenes for reasons. And given James Earl Jones’ age this may very well have been the last chance…

        I hope I’m wrong -_-;

        • January 20, 2017 at 9:32 pm
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          I’m guessing you are.

          • January 21, 2017 at 8:35 pm
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            I hope you are right. I would love a Vader anthology film. OMG I would go nuts.

  • January 20, 2017 at 5:35 am
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    Hayden will ALWAYS be the worst Vader. Even C. Andrew Nelson and Chad Vader did a better job. Fuck, Even that mannequin/CG thing we saw in the bacta tank acted circles around him.

    • January 20, 2017 at 7:52 am
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      Honestly it didn’t matter, Bob Anderson was a similar height/build as Hayden. 6’1. They didn’t just put Hayden in the suit. He was in a padded under bodysuit.

    • January 20, 2017 at 3:04 pm
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      Is it really necessary to bring up Hayden here? Get over it.

    • January 20, 2017 at 4:14 pm
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      Read the article. Daniel Naprous was in the bacta tank

      • January 20, 2017 at 9:39 pm
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        I’m not sure I buy that. If they had a dummy Vader, why would they bother using an actor? Unless originally, Vader’s fully, moving body was going to be shows.

        • January 20, 2017 at 9:52 pm
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          Reading the guy’s facebook posts, I am not so sure about him as a source. C Andrew Nelson chimed in, but I don’t think he’d know who was who in this case. Spencer didn’t seem too happy with him. Not sure what to believe.

        • January 20, 2017 at 11:09 pm
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          Yeah, that seems like nonsense, spouted by someone who didn’t know there was a rubber mannequin produced.

          • January 21, 2017 at 5:16 am
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            Indeed.

    • January 20, 2017 at 9:55 pm
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      I liked Hayden as Vader.

    • January 20, 2017 at 11:08 pm
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      “including his introduction where we see him in the tank without his suit…”
      .
      I’ll just leave this here….because it doesn’t make any sense.

      • January 21, 2017 at 5:32 am
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        In what way?

        • January 23, 2017 at 11:08 am
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          Because it was just a piece of prop and no real actor in the tank.

  • January 20, 2017 at 5:37 am
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    That sucks. They should have kept all the Vader scenes. It would have gave a even more heavy darker tone. I loved seeing Vader back and I just wanted more. His presence is addicting. Nothing can equal the dark Lord of the sith

    • January 20, 2017 at 6:35 am
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      agreed

    • January 20, 2017 at 2:20 pm
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      Maybe that’s why they were holding Vader back, so the audience wouldn’t lose focus of the main characters.
      Just like they changed an earlier draft of TFA, with Luke only to appear at the end, so people would be more invested in Rey, Finn et all.

    • January 20, 2017 at 3:48 pm
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      You haven’t seen a cut of the movie with the extra Vader scenes included, so you have no idea what they would have contributed to the film. Chances are they just fucked up the pacing of the film, or they were just Vader’s Mustafar scene but on the Death Star instead.

      • January 21, 2017 at 6:45 pm
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        I didn’t really like the pacing of the film as it was. I was pretty much waiting for the Vader scenes so yea I would have liked it no matter what

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