Star Wars Rogue One: Darth Vader to get considerably more brutal

There's talk of thrown lightsabers and shields made of hovering bodies

(Lucasfilm)

Darth Vader was kind of limited what he could do in the original trilogy given the comparatively paltry computer graphics trickery of the time, but it sounds like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will see him ratchet up his tactics when it comes to his favourite pastime: crushing the rebel scum.

Making Star Wars had the scoop:

'The action sequences filmed are unknown, but there was work pitching the different ways Darth Vader could kill rebels on a battlefield with the Force and his lightsaber. The storyboard “pitches” showed decapitated rebels, people being dismembered by Vader throwing his sword, levitating bodies to make human shields, and so on. The art was more violent than what we’ve seen Darth Vader do on screen before.'

It sounds like the team were just spitballing in terms of action scenes involving Vader, but you can bet your life they will include a few inventive ones, similar to Kylo Ren's pretty badass ability to stop a blaster bolt in mid-air that he showed off in The Force Awakens.

It might also be worth noting that saber throws are something that have already been included in Star Wars' latest video game, Battlefront.

Being called an 'anthology' film but essentially a prequel, Rogue One is set shortly before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, the story centering on a group of Rebel spies on a mission to steal the plans for the Empire's new weapon, the Death Star.

Directed by Godzilla's Gareth Edwards, it is set for release on 16 December, 2016, bridging the gap between The Force Awakens and Star Wars 8.