Round here we’re big Dave Bautista fans. It’d be one thing if he was just a surprisingly great actor, as proven in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and Blade Runner 2049. But he put his career on the line to stand up for his friend James Gunn, which was really nice to see in an industry notoriously full of liars, false friends and backstabbers. All that’s why we’re hoping that Lucasfilm get their wish and secure his casting as Darth Bane in their latest Star Wars TV project.
It’s early days yet, but sources close to We Got This Covered have told us that the show will revolve around Bautista’s character being the last Sith survivor after the climactic Jedi-Sith Wars (which took place roughly a millennium before the Skywalker saga). Though Darth Bane hasn’t been mentioned on the big screen, he’s a familiar presence to anyone who’s dipped their toe into the Star Wars novels, TV shows, comics and video games. His most high profile appearance to date was in The Clone Wars episode “Sacrifice,” in which he appeared as a vision to Yoda (where, in an interesting bit of casting, he was voiced by Mark Hamill).
But while he might never have appeared in the movies, audiences will be familiar with his Sith philosophies. His analysis of why they were defeated by the Jedi was that they spent too much time squabbling amongst themselves for power, weakening themselves rather than presenting a united front. His reformed Sith featured the Rule of Two, which says that there can only be a master and apprentice Sith at any one time. The pair would operate in secrecy, with the apprentice killing the master when they became powerful enough, before taking an apprentice of his own.
Naturally, this proved fatal for him, as Darth Bane was murdered by his own student. But his plans eventually bore fruit in Revenge of the Sith, when Emperor Palpatine executed Order 66 and thus the long revenge of Bane was complete. For a couple of years, anyway.
While a Star Wars show with Bane as the antihero might be a bit much for Disney, I can see him as a magnetic villain as played by Bautista, so I do hope they get him. If they don’t though, then rest easy, as our sources tell us Lucasfilm have their hearts set on an A-lister for the role regardless.