8 Ways Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Changed The Franchise Forever

5) An Even More Brutal Darth Vader

We’re used to seeing Darth Vader be a stone cold killer, but Rogue One: A Star Wars Story really upped the intensity with that incredible final sequence. Brutally murdering Rebel after Rebel, it felt like we were witnessing a very different side to the Sith Lord, something which was helped by the fact that the movie benefitted from modern technology that the original trilogy didn’t have.

Chances are that we’ll see Vader return, whether it’s in a movie of his own or another spinoff, and when he does, we can probably expect to see a much more violent side of the iconic villain. That’s something we have to thank Gareth Edwards for, as Vader’s scenes here have arguably changed his status quo in a big way and future filmmakers will no doubt strive to try and outdo this.

Whether or not they’ll be able to is hard to say, but it’s nice to think that scenes of Vader brutally murdering Rebels could become a staple of spinoff movies set during the period in which he was alive.