Will Darth Vader’s Costume Appear in Star Wars: Episode 7? More Rumors from the Production.
The man who originally sculpted Darth Vader’s helmet has officially announced on Facebook that he started working on Star Wars: Episode VII. Of course this doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll be working on the iconic helmet again. Or does it? Hit the jump to find out why…
Brian Muir is one of the most respected sculptors and artists in the film industry. He has been working in film for over 46 years and has 39 movie credits. He has been working on Alien, Willow, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, Harry Potter, Guardians of the Galaxy and many many more. One of his most memorable work was the sculpting of the Darth Vader helmet and armour using Ralph McQuarrie’s design in 1976 for Star Wars: A New Hope. He also sculpted the Storm Trooper armour, Death Star Droid, CZ 3 and finishing work on C3PO.
Here’s what he posted on his Facebook page. Strangely enough later he removed the post. (via JediNews)
Now as I said Muir’s involvement doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll be working on Vader’s helmet. But here is something I’ve heard months ago from a source that used to work on the production that now kinda makes sense. I’ll intentionally won’t reveal what was his job but I can guarantee you that the things he talks about were seen on the Pinewood set or on concept sheets. They are legit but no one knows if they’ll end up in the movie.
POTENTIAL SPOILERS!
- There is a set with the Falcon (nothing new) and a set with a Tie Fighter. The sets are huge.
- He saw concepts of 4 lightsabers.
- Concept of a new Stormtrooper armour (it’s white and similar to the ones from Endor).
- Scan of Yoda from Episode V (not sure what’s this about, maybe a force ghost?).
- Concepts of Rifles, Pistols and droids for the Cantina
- There was a costume of another Wookie, not Chewbacca.
- Vader’s helmet was spotted on the set. The helmet looked like it was burned. According to the guy it’ll be used in a flashback scene (we know that SW and flashbacks don’t work together but that’s what he said).
Later a completely different source also mentioned that Vader’s costume was seen on set. First I thought that they might be using the costume for other projects but now I don’t think this is the case. And Muir’s involvement is probably not a coincidence and I wonder why he deleted his post. Why are they hiding his involvement?
I’m in no way saying that Vader will be resurrected on the big screen. Quite the opposite. Vader is dead but I’m almost sure that we’ll see him in Episode VII. It might be a flashback scene, a costume hanging from the wall or a frigging family photo, but he will be there…
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
Perhaps this might have something to do with the Darth Vader themed TV specials?
That was my first thought too. But why was it on the Episode 7 set? And now Muir is secretly involved. It’s weird.
Why worry about flashbacks? Couldn’t it easily be a hologram that was found or reviewed at a later time? Isn’t that how the whole thing got started? a hologram put into a droid?
Or maybe it’ll be similar to seeing “Vader” in the cave on Dagobah.
Wait, where did they say that they were making Darth Vader TV Specials?
I think it is funny as soon as he is confirmed now Vader is in the film. He was involved in Episode 1 and I don’t recall Vader’s helmet showing up.
but his helmet did show up on the ep7 set, which is the difference here.
http://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2013/10/disney-to-release-darth-vader-tv.html
I think the theme is Luke and Leias kids are just taking selfies for their friends. “On Endor with big black helmet” “B.B.Q. with relatives on Tatooine”, “Doing it with my sister on Hoth Woooooooooooo”, “Playing one handed saber duel on Bespin Love the manicure?”. On Dogobah “Took a six pack in to the haunted tree came out with a keg and my mum in a bikini WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”.
No more Darth Vader please! I loved Darth Vader in the OT, but I still disagree with Lucas that the Prequels focuses on his central story. They can mention him in the ST (Luke/Leia conversations), but nothing more then that.
Doesn’t matter if you disagreed that was the story and it was a great one.
Yeah Luke kept the burnt Vader corps and the outfit will appear in Episode 7 Shyeah.
I would think Luke would have burned up vader fully. Maybe it’s just something on set for fun and not anything to do with the plot.
Flashbacks seriously make zero sense in this money series. I get the whole trying to bridge the gap but we have all seen the OT and if you haven’t shame on you.
There is a perfectly good reason Luke or another character could go back to endor, either looking or stumble across, and find his burned helmet.
In the Yoda arc on Clone Wars, Yoda goes to the sith home World and incounters Darth Revans ghost. Maybe Luke take the same trip and incounters Darth Vaders ghost.
Actually, it was Darth Bane’s “fiery specter”. But both Revan and Bane was set to appear in the Mortis Trilogy arc, but excluded in the final version because Dave Filoni and George Lucas thought that the their appearances would have greater implications than the episode was exploring and Lucas thought about it as well and eventually agreed that the scene should be removed from the episode due to those implications on his ideas about the Force.
Good thing George doesn’t have any say anymore!!!
He’s a creative consultant. Just because he’s not spearheading the projects doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have a say in what gets made. And as Paulo said, it was also Dave Filoni’s decision, too. George Lucas can’t be the scapegoat for everything.
I’m actually glad that they didn’t put Darth Revan into a cameo The Clone Wars – it would’ve really pissed me off as a viewer if they were to set him up to have a bigger role in a future storyline, only to never follow up on it.
Vader is in the past. Move on. A mention from Luke or something would be rather chilling but apart from that I don’t want to see him in the trilogy. If they want Vader then leave him to the tv shows or spinoffs.
Vader/Anakin is in the passed??….well im sorry to lay it on ya sweetheart…but so far all six movies have been about Him..you can argue that all you want…but it is a fact straight from the horses mouth…you noobs keep saying that he is dead..well you obviously dont know shit about star wars..because He is immortal..he achieved eternal life..to think that he wont be in episode 7 makes me belly laugh at your ignorance. His Force ghost will be all over this trilogy as he guides Luke, without a doubt..and if you think it isnt going to be Hayden..then you are a complete tool…suck it up.
Maybe some Dark Sider found the burnt ruins of Vader’s suit and has it up on his wall as a tribute or something.
It also could be that Luke goes to Endor and finds the ruins of the suit and we hear some thematic music playing in the back ground as he gazes at it and ponders the nature of the Force.
Or, maybe some Ewoks found it and are using it as a drum like they did in ROTJ with the Storm Trooper helmets. A musical scene with dancing comes to mind.
Why wasn’t Endor consumeded by huge forest fires after all the debris from the Death Star fell down into the atmosphere anyway?
Did you need see this deleted ending??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-5ojSxYAE
Disney now has ownership of one of the most, if not the most, iconic villains of all time. Plus George Lucas has a big boner for Vader, and he wrote the treatments. As much as we do not want to see Vader back I just cannot help but think that Vader will play a part in Episode 7 some how.
I’m surprised Disney didn’t name Vader as someone at least possibly getting their own standalone if they were so interested in him.
Also, wouldn’t they have made him the main villain in Rebels?
I think the most likely reason we’d see a burned version of Vader’s helmet is if Luke revisits the site of his father’s funeral pyre on Endor.
Why he would, I don’t know. But perhaps he needs to make some connection with the spirits of his father, Yoda and/or Obi Wan and is visiting “power spots” such as the places where they passed over to the nether world in an effort to try to contact them.
Here’s a question for you. If, by some chance, that Anakin Skywalker appears as a Force Ghost in Episode 7. What image are we going to see? Are we going to see the Hayden Christesan version or the Sebastion Shaw version?
Sebastian Shaw be dead though
I’d put my money on Disney going with using Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor out of pragmatism more than anything – on the assumption that any of these characters are going to cameo in the Sequel Trilogy. It would work better than using motion-capture to recreate the appearances of Sebastian Shaw and Alec Guiness.
All of a sudden you support CG human actors.
IF Anakin appears, it would have to be as the young version. Of course, that never made a lick of sense to put Hayden in that last ROTJ scene in the first place, because Yoda and Obi Wan looked as they did when they died. Luke had just met and said farewell to his father as he was under that mask, and suddenly there’s Darth BoyBand standing next to Obi Wan and Yoda. BAD call on Lucas’ part.
So I really hope that if we see Luke communing with the spirits of those three, we either just hear them as voices (they’ve faded too far from the physical realm over the past 30 years to appear visibly anymore, problem solved!) or else he ONLY sees and speaks with Yoda. Having Anakin appear as a 20 year-old at the end of ROTJ never made any sense, and I think it’d be best to leave that bit in the past.
(YMMV…)
I agree, it never made any sense to put 20 year-old Anakin in the place of the older version. And yes, voices alone would probably be best. I could see Yoda as a Force Ghost because he was so powerful with the Force. We’ll find out, though.
If they HAVE to go there, I’d rather they use brand new actors who look and sound similar to Alec Guinness and Sebastian Shaw.
I think it was pretty inevitable to put Hayden in the final “ghost” scene in Return of the Jedi. Sebastian Shaw really was a placeholder until the definite “Anakin” actor was cast.
I have read reports of parents watching the movies with their children, and after the trauma of Episode III it was very cathartic for the kids to see that Anakin really became “himself” again at the end.
It does make “sense” internally as well, for we can asssume that the force-ghost represents the person’s self-image. Yoda and Obi-Wan were happy about how they looked at the end of their lives, whereas Vader presumably hated his disfigured face and hardly ever looked in a mirror when unmasked.
If the force-ghost were a “direct” reflection of one’s physical state at the moment of death, Anakin’s ghost should just be a torso with a head, but no limbs. And then we also have the question of how the anyone’s force-ghost can have clothes on (no midi-chlorians in those!)
No, it is best to see the force-ghost as reflecting the person’s self-image, clothes and all, and Vader/Anakin finally preferred to see himself as his pre-disfigured self, with an intact body. (I guess even the arm Dooku cut off would appear non-prosthetic in the ghost form.)
Sebastian Shaw was a “placeholder”? No, Sebastian Shaw was Anakin Skywalker as an old man. He was the Anakin that Luke finally met face to face. If he had been intended to be a “placeholder”, then Lucas would have edited him out of Anakin’s death scene as well and CGI’d in Hayden Christensen in burn/age makeup.
Putting him in the Force ghost scene was just a cheap and illogical way for Lucas to tie in the prequels for the DVD release of ROTJ. Otherwise, there’s no reason why Obi Wan and Yoda wouldn’t have appeared as they did in their prime as well.
Are we to assume that Anakin became spiritually whole again, but was still too vain to appear as an old man? That doesn’t exactly track.
And please…a torso and a head with no limbs? By that logic, given the fact that Vader killed him by cutting his head off, Obi Wan should have appeared in spirit form as nothing but a disembodied noggin! ;^)
I keep hearing about “flashbacks”, but no one seems to put it together that this could be a misunderstanding of stuff filmed for hologram or holocron video. There is also the potential for Force visions like in the PT.
Force visions were also part of the OT as well. Remember the cave?
Same thought. Luke or someone else could visit another dark side tainted place or the same cave…a conversation with the past self of Anakin? A new trial?
Or what if within the time of ROTJ, Luke has somehow been corrupted and donned his father’s armor? Or if another Sith is posing as Vader to re-take control of Imperial forces.
Oh, like some guy running around in a burnt up suit and speaking with a muffled voice under the helmet is gonna scare anyone?
I wonder if they’ll try to tie Driver and the Vader suit together somehow?
Maybe the burnt helmet is a symbol of the Empire prevailing, somehow. Maybe it was sought after similarly to Hitlers skull.
“Maybe the burnt helmet is a symbol of the Empire prevailing, somehow. Maybe it was sought after similarly to Hitlers skull.”
Indiana Solo and the Helmet of Vader
Han Jones needs to get to it before the Imperials do, or else the galaxy is doomed! xD
Obi wan kept Anakin’s Lightsaber, Luke kept Vader’s helmet. Someone’s going to wear it.
Just as this story is passing on what you learned, that helmet and its legacy, just might be represented.
ah hem, he wouldn’t burn it if he was going to keep it, unless he was having a really dumb blonde moment and thought “oh crap, I really should keep something of daddy” and fished around in the searing flames for it: “Ohh, ahhh, ouch. Hmm that’ll do, bit scorched mind.” while blowing out the flames on the helmet.
DISNEY:
Vader’s podracer on Tatooine…
His skeletal right arm on Geonosis…
His other limbs on Mustafar…
His Death Star debris stuff in space…
His old lightsaber on Bespin…
His burnt helmet, suit and remains on Endor…
With these strange and iconic relics, we shall unite the episodes and galaxy and resurrect our most iconic villain!
MUAH HAHAHAHAHA!!!
what’s the stormtrooper of Endor? do they talk about the scout trooper or there was a difference on Endor’s stormtrooper design?
Help me out here. How old would Vader be if he were still alive by VII? Early 80’s?
Well…Anakin was born in 42 BBY(Before Battle of Yavin) and died in 4 AGY(After Battle of Yavin). Episode 7 is 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi, so Vader would have 76.
I’d love to see a scene where Luke visits his fathers residence Bast Castle with multiple Vader helmets & suit parts seen hanging around a classic looking meditation chamber. There could be a close up of his mask on screen along with a powerful deep feeling of him being gone….Awesome!!!!!
Castle Bast! Yes on Vjun! Nice one!
I have a theory that Luke is residing on Dagobah in this film – we may have another scene inside the cave where one of the younger cast members come face to face with their uncle Darth, not unlike the scene from Empire.
They need the Vader helmet because it’s the helmet with Luke’s head in it from the Dagobah cave in TESB.
In E7, Luke retrieves that helmet and calls on Force Ghost Yoda to show him and ask, “What was the deal with this?! You said I wasn’t going to need my weapons before I went into that cave!”
“Only what you take with you” was what yoda said. Luke took his weapons so the tree took what he had and showed Luke that evil does not have to be destroyed it can be saved. Vader in the cave represented the old thinking of the Jedi (yoda etc). That evil has to be destroyed no questions asked. Instead of taking the approach that good and evil are choices that only the individual cane make for themselves. Something the old Jedi didn’t understand and Luke was playing by his own rules and making his own choices. Luke was the one eyed person leading the blind.
I’m in with a well done flashback scene…
suddenly this does not sound too well for SW7.
Sounds more like JJ Abrams is gonna pull of another Star Trek. A faded joke of what is Star Wars, taking everything that was great and then getting it directly injected into your nervous-system until you scream “ok, it’s Star Wars, please make it stop!!!! there is more about it than lightsabers, blasters, Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, Millenium Falcon, Taatooine, Hoth, Endor….”
The best way to have Vader in episode 7 would for him to be on a holocraun being looked at from a sith, or a bounty hunter getting info from whatever Vader was talking about at that time….
Other possibilities- Force trained Vader style soldiers who wear his costume as a ‘tribute’, or a time travelling plot that turns everything upside down and lets us meet everyone again.
No time travel. I love the OT, but I don’t literally want to relive it in the ST.
Could easily be a vision or Force dream. Meaning… not a flashback. It could be a foretelling of the peril in his blood line or something.
Wait, how do we KNOW that Star Wars and flashbacks don’t work? Please wait for the movie to come out and judge it then.
To all of the people who love finding things to complain about with Ep7 rumors: Which would you rather have, a cameo from Darth Vader, or Hayden Christensen as Anakin’s Force ghost?
We already had the Prequels. Do we really need bad choices?
I agree luke or someone will be revisiting vaders resting place. Why did they even make vaders force ghost look like a normal person? Obiwan looked as he did when he passed vader should have too
In essence he did. You could say he died on Mustafar, or when he sold his soul to the Dark Side
So basically Anakin gets rewarded for turning to the dark side with a youthful appearance.
Plus, if he really “died” back then, he wouldn’t be able to be redeemed. Vader was able to turn back because there was still good alive in him.
“Rewarded”? I’d hardly consider having your entire personality warped, murdering your former allies (who have done nothing wrong), being directly responsible for the death of your wife, losing all of your limbs, being burned alive, being put through a painful operation without anesthetic, and being forced to live the rest of your days in a glorified iron lung as a “reward”.
“Of course this doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll be working on the iconic helmet again. Or is it?”
Of course this is an example of great grammar. Or does it?
Nobody did know. Your guest is as good as mind.
“Of course this is an example of great grammar. Or does it?”
As douchy as you’re being, I appreciate the lesson.
Or… Just like Boba Fett took the armour of a fallen Mandalorian maybe some bad ass bounty hunter decided it would be good to masquerade in Vader’s old helmet?
Oooooh!! I love that theory!! I kinda hope you are right!
Honestly, that sounds like a lame, disrespectful rehash of an iconic villain. Troubling, too, because it would also be an indication that Lucasfilm lacks the confidence and creativity to give us something brand new and memorable.
That’s a decent thought but I do think we can expect a few cliché tags as with something this size I do not think they will go 100% risky & gutsy however much I wish they would
And become an instant target. Wouldn’t make sense.
another bad news….why the fxxx they don´t do a spin off with Vader chasing jedi….I´m repeating myself, but, being a nostalgic guy I would really prefer NEW THINGS, feeling, atmospehere, the rest in the way of old trilogy, but characters and story….use your IMAGINATION, don´t repeat what we already saw, what we´we experienced before..
Darth Vader MUS’NT APPEAR IN EPISODE VII !!
Why? Because he is TOO frightening and will scare all the children.
Plus, my Mom says he is from the Devil.
On Sundays, they give me milk.
Please, no flashback in Episode 7!!
Flashbacks are a sign of bad storytelling and patronizing to the audience if not used as a major narrative storytelling tool.
Given that Abrams’s Lost was composed of flashbacks that developed the plot greatly, and that everyone who has touched the script has gone on and on about how great it is, I don’t think we have anything to worry about should flashbacks be implemented.
I don’t think flashbacks, in and of themselves, are bad. I just don’t want to see them in Star Wars.
It would be intersting to see a galactic civil war – clone war museum in the next movie.
Brian Muir, I hear he gives great helmet.
Isn’t Adma Driver playing a new Darth Vader like villain. Maybe it’s for him. Or, maybe we won’t know who’s under the mask until the end of the trilogy? Sort of a a guess the bad guy who’s in the guise of one of the most terrifying images in the galaxy in recent memory.
All I can say is everything has always revolved around Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in the 6 films so why expect anything different. My guess is there’s still unfinished business concerning him. Somehow he’ll turn up
I’ll wager 500 quatloos that Darth Vader IS NOT in VII !!
Lucas kept increasing Vader’s importance with each movie. My hope is that Disney can break the habit and MOVE ON to something new.
If I recall, James Earl Jones has stated that he has not been contacted by anyone, so that either means he has no role as Vader’s voice, or he’s forced to say so by the secrecy machine. Though…now that I think about it…has anyone even asked if Hayden will be in the film? Oh no…
I think I read somewhere that James Earl Jones doesn’t have any interest reprising his role as Vader.
i actually liked Hayden C. as Anakin and was glad that we got to see him redeemed, great symbolism. cannot wait for SW7, sounds like it will be great Kevin Smith seemed impressed, and i liked his way of seeing things, of “watching the prequels and enjoying them as an adult, but 7 seems more like whenever seeing the original as a kid”. the prequels were fine, most of us were upset that they were not the original for the first time again, & SW7 won’t be either. let it go, relax and enjoy seeing SW again, it’s gonna be great….unless you are comparing it to the original every 5 seconds, then i guarantee you a miserable time.personally, i hope they take some new direction, i don’t want to see the originals redone..they are fine as they are…let’s see something NEW!!!
The thing about Hayden Christensen is that he’s fine as an actor (see the movie Shattered Glass for proof), but he was given some of the most wooden dialogue in the Prequel Trilogy (GL has admitted that that dialogue is not his strong suit). But as far as acting in the Star Wars goes, he did a good job portraying the man who would become Darth Vader when he was silent – especially in the scenes where he lets loose and straight-up murders everybody. His talent is in showing over telling.
I assume when you say “showing” you mean pouting and looking like a whiny bitch.
Well, Since they’re doing [spolier caution] time travel, I suppose anythings possible.
^_-
Hahahaha! Time travel, that’s a good one!
Oh wait, you’re serious about that theory… Let me laugh even harder.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
It could be something that moves the plot along. Such as, the new Sith villain makes a pilgrimage to Endor as part of his journey to the dark side. He’s looking for the spot where Vader’s remains are, and finds the charred helmet and holds it up examining it, then…cut to the next scene.
Later he reveals his choice of apprentice, which ends up being Luke’s son or something along those lines.
right, a few years ago i saw a potential storyline which was actually really good. the last of the empire that was left after jedi went into hiding and started a cult based on vader and luke. they took some blood from lukes hand, and from vader and created a clone
He is such an amazing sculptor and he’s responsible for much of the design as well in so far as his storm trooper and his Vader have significantly different and better facial proportions than Ralph Mcqarie’s final sketches. The storm trooper face when modeled by anyone else always looks very wrong (like in “Rebels” and the D.C. helmet). We are all so lucky this man in involved.
Obviously Muir has not been hired to sculpt the Vader helmet if it has already been spotted on set.
I agree. If it’s already on the set then he perhaps is doing the stormtroopers etc.
I remember in the now defunct EU they were seeking the glove of vader. Perhaps it’s something like that.
I don’t think Abrams is going to force the linear setting of the SW narration by improving some kind of Lost-like storytelling. I simply think we’re going to see some special place in the movie, like the cave in Ep.V, where one of the characters (maybe the new ones) will have to face the past and the legacy of the Skywalker family. The burned helmet could be a sort of vision
of the Force.
They should bring Vader back in Bobby Ewing style in the shower, and episodes 4-6 were just a dream.
Most likely is that they are filming the TV specials back to back, since they have all the props and scenery set up at pinewood, it makes sense money wise to do it. Maybe the he’ll make an appearance in the tree in a sort of dreamquest type scene, but I seriously doubt they’d be that dumb to try and use vader in episode 7 beyond that. Disney arent stupid, I mean they’ve shelled ut billions on this deal plus more in future development, so yeah there might be the odd nod to him on occasion, but he won’t be featuring other than that, I reckon Disney will want to add their own bit to the legacy to make it their own…
Maybe luke just took vaders mask off or something before it got 100% burnt? Possible idea. Judge me
more likely an old hologram or force vision..maybe some darksider faithfuls sojourned to endor and retrieved the mask as a relic, who knows? i think it would be cool to see Vader in some fashion in SW7…one of the things that irked me about the EU is how anyone who wrote anything of the Sith always tried to one up Vader, saying their Sith was badder, more powerful, etc. ….i think Vader should remain the epitomy of the Sith and no one should be badder or more powerful, he is the chosen and trying to outdo each other on villians simply cheapens what we already have established.
One worthwhile idea in this thread – Luke finding Vader’s hideout and seeing a number of armor sets lined up, that could be eerie and iconic if done right.
I’ve said from the beginning, no way would Disney have bought the franchise unless Darth Vader was included as an active property (in other words a significant recurring character). Seems probable that the deal hinged on Arndts script that demonstrated to Disney that Vader could and would be written into the new films. Remember that the Disney happened after the treatments were developed, as part of the deal. Darth Vader is one of the most recognizable and iconic villains of all time. And that translates to millions or billions of dollars–and really, Star Wars, for the vast majority of non-Star Wars fanatics, is about Darth Vader and the basic story of the first trilogy. Disney would be stupid to let him stay dead.
My thought is that it’s probably just a relic.. maybe Luke kept it, or maybe they find it along the way..
He died and returned as a “ghost” already so I don’t think they will be breaking off and saying he somehow survived..