One of the coolest moments in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story came when we paid a visit to Darth Vader’s home on Mustafar. The fact that the Sith Lord would live on the planet where he suffered his greatest defeat opened the door to a lot of interesting storytelling possibilities, something hinted at in recent reports claiming that Kylo Ren will be paying a visit to his grandfather’s castle in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Now, in a new interview, Lucasfilm VP and Executive Creative Director Doug Chiang has seemingly confirmed that we can expect to see more of that castle in the near future and shed some light on both its importance and why it ultimately may come back into play in the Star Wars Universe.
“It’s interesting, we did a lot of history exploration. Why did Vader build his castle here? Why does it look the way it does? Why does he even come here? For us, it was really figuring out that Vader built his castle on an existing structure, which was this ancient lava dam. He built it here for a very specific reason. It was to come back here to meditate, to rejuvenate, to reconnect with himself. And it became a very spiritual place, and it was all centered around his bacta tank. And that’s where the form language all built around there. And we’ve done quite a bit of exploration of what’s on the inside of it as well, and hopefully that’ll be seen in some other film.”
While movies like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story are meant to be standalone stories, it makes sense that they can also be used for world building purposes, introducing new characters and locations which can later be used in the new trilogy or even other spinoffs.
Vader’s castle is a big one, though, especially when it could have major implications for what comes next with Kylo Ren and Vader’s secret history. Marvel comic books have revealed that he was constantly at odds with the Empire, so who knows what mysterious and powerful Sith artefacts he gathered over the years.
For now, we’ll have to wait and see, but don’t be surprised if that first trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi offers at least a glimpse of a certain fiery planet.
