Rogue One Director Gareth Edwards Talks About THAT Darth Vader Scene

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was a fantastic addition to the Star Wars canon, concluding with a mindbogglingly badass demonstration of why Darth Vader is the scariest dude in space. If you’ve seen the movie, you’re no doubt visualizing it in your head right now: that buzzing red lightsaber carving through terrified Rebellion soldiers to intense choral music.

Now, with the Blu-ray release of the film coming on April 4th, director Gareth Edwards has talked us through the genesis and production of the scene. Rogue One notoriously went through substantial reshoots prior to release, with this climactic moment only planned and shot a mere four months before it hit theatres. Crazy, right?

In the interview, Edwards’ Star Wars fan cred shines through – explaining that Vader only displays abilities he had in the original trilogy. So watch a little closer and you’ll see various moves lifted from action scenes there, with his slashing saber style a close match to what we see in The Empire Strikes Back.

Edwards also gives us a couple of morsels about the disc that contains the Death Star plans. Despite being absolutely central to the plot, we never get a good look at it in A New Hope, so the design team had to work on a couple of frames from the Blu-ray edition. Also neat is Edwards explaining his cameo as the Rebel soldier who detaches the blockade runner and allows the plans and Princess Leia to escape: “I like to think that guy is the saviour of the Rebellion … If it wasn’t for him there would be no Star Wars,” he says.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story blasts onto Blu-ray April 4th. Will you be picking it up? Let us know in the usual place.