Besides one or two poor narrative choices, the creators behind Star Wars have always given us some of the most incredible stories. In addition, Star Wars has never shied away from voicing its political opinions. George Lucas’ stances on anti-authoritarianism, pacifism and tolerance have always been central to the Star Wars Saga, and they’ve always been handled with great care. But fans want to see a new Star Wars spin-off franchise with Darth Vader.

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One of the most well-done examples of this was Andor, possibly the greatest series to ever come out of Star Wars, with its tense moments that left you on the edge of your seat, jarring transitions between the wealthy and imprisoned and the overwhelming depiction of the Empire.

With all the talk about new Star Wars movies in the works and how they’ll be set in the far future, discussions about what the new films might be about or should be about have arisen among fans. While it’s fantastic that we’ll be introduced to some new characters who are hopefully mostly unaffected by the drama of the Skywalker family, some feel like Star Wars isn’t entirely done with certain family members.

Let’s get into why a Darth Vader Star Wars spin-off is a great idea.

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The Missing Years of Darth Vader

Fans have already seen an Anakin Skywalker Central franchise. We got to watch him develop friendships, fall in love, battle the Sith, be manipulated into believing the dark side of the force would keep the woman he loved safe, and eventually fall to the dark side.

Now we want a franchise that focuses on Darth Vader and everything he did between the day he fell and the day he chose to finally return to the light and save his son from his former master. Star Wars Legends has so many great stories detailing everything. We saw him struggling with the loss of the life he could have had and dealt with the idea that his master was simply waiting to replace him with a more powerful, less emotionally distraught apprentice.

It would be criminal if the Star Wars writers didn’t take advantage of the many incredible stories already written. Bringing a few of them onto the big screen so that casual and long-standing Star Wars fans can enjoy the beautifully written stories (and maybe cry over a few) could be one of the best decisions Lucasfilm could ever make.

However, there are some key things they’d need to focus on to make a Darth Vader Star Wars spin-off franchise successful.

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Vader’s Grief Over His Decisions

Darth Vader is one of the best villains ever created because of his devasting formidability and his emotional complexity. Vader is a character who will not hesitate to cut down wave after wave of enemies, but he is still deeply haunted by his past and his decisions during his fall to the dark side. He had seemingly rid himself of all attachments to his life as Anakin Skywalker when he first put on that mask, but that could not be further from the truth.

Vader made terrible choices during his fall, most resulting from paranoia, fear and misguided hatred. As a result, he was left with some devasting losses that left him with deep psychological scars, causing an overwhelming depression to settle on his soul for his entire existence as Darth Vader.

The Sith Lord never recovered from his wife’s death, nor the Jedi Order’s destruction and the loss of many of his friends. He felt an overwhelming amount of guilt, which would often lead him to have dreams of an alternate life in which he killed Darth Sidious with Mace Windu’s help and never fell from the light.

In some of his darkest hours, Vader spends his time dreaming about the family he was supposed to have with Padmé and the futures they might have had with him as the Grand Master of the Jedi Order and her as the new Supreme Chancellor.

One of his most prominent dreams while searching for Garoche Tarkin, the son of Moff Wilhuff Tarkin and an Admiral in the Imperial armies, was of him and his son comforting Padmé and assuring her that she would lead the galaxy to peace.

Seeing Vader have these dreams and desperately try to ignore the call to the light by trying to focus on his hate for the Jedi would be a truly devastating thing to watch. Some of the best moments in The Clone Wars were between Anakin and Padmé, so to see him dealing with the guilt and trying to ignore his love for her would be heartbreaking.

Star Wars fans are fully aware that Anakin’s goodness and hope for redemption have always been just below the surface of the Darth Vader persona, overwhelmed by his guilt and the belief that he will never do enough to return to the light. Watching this inner turmoil and the way his choices have affected him would be enough to bring tears to many Star Wars fans’ eyes.

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Vader’s Devasting Levels of Power

Again, Darth Vader is one of the most dangerous characters in the Star Wars universe. Finally, we got a taste of just how terrifying he can be in Kenobi. Three moments stood out above the rest: Vader and Obi-Wan crossing paths for the first time in 10 years, Vader Force grabbing a ship, and Reva Sevander trying to fight Vader.

Each moment showed just how powerful Vader has become. You also get to see how skilled of a fighter he is and how genuinely devasting he would be to take on. Darth Vader puts no effort into any of his fights until the very end of the show.

You can immediately feel the tenseness in his and Obi-Wan’s first encounter. Obi-Wan is tired, out of breath and out of practice. Then, he sees the glow of red, readies himself to fight his brother again, and immediately bolts because he knows there is no way he’ll survive the encounter. He’s doing all he can to avoid a fight, and when the two eventually clash sabres, Kenobi barely manages to defend himself. At the same time, Vader looks like he isn’t even trying, holding his lightsabre with one hand.

Vader Force-grabbing the Transport Ship, with no apparent struggle or strain, is arguably one of the best moments in Kenobi. He walks in and just flicks his hand out. He then drags it back down and starts pulling the ship apart like it is nothing.

The fight between him and Reva Sevander is another great moment that does an excellent job of showing off how powerful he is. While she’s screaming and putting her all into that fight, desperately trying to land a hit, Vader is barely moving. He almost looks lazy as he barely moves to avoid her attacks and doesn’t even do her the honour of drawing his lightsabre to fight her.

He spends her whole attack looking more like he’s swatting at an annoying fly than fighting a trained Inquisitor, then disarms her like it’s nothing.

Fans desperately want to see more of this devastating power in action in a Star Wars Darth Vader spin-off series or movie.

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His Utter Ruthlessness In and Out of Battle

Darth Vader has fought in many battles and dealt with wars for most of his life, and he has proved time and time again that he is not afraid to kill those who get in his way or harm his own son for the good of his plans. So naturally, fans want to see that strategy and skill from the perspective of Vader.

He’s just as ruthless off the field. Star Wars fans know his tolerance for failure well. The original trilogy saw many moments of Vader killing his men due to unacceptable failure. While they did show how ruthless the character could be, the scenes tend to be more humorous than terrifying.

After seeing Darth Vader’s ruthlessness in Kenobi and Rogue One, fans hope that future Star Wars projects show him to be just as relentless.

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The Jedi Hunt

Order 66 was supposed to lead to the destruction of all the Jedi. Unfortunately for the Empire, many clones refused to comply with the order and helped their Commanders escape the slaughter. The best-known example is Rex helping Ahsoka in The Clone Wars.

Due to the clones’ failure, Vader would spend the next few years hunting those that remained and the apprentices they had started training during their years in hiding. Not only would watching Vader directly hunt Jedi give us some insight into what happened to those who survived Order 66, but it would also give the writers a chance to show more of Vader’s inner turmoil.

Watching Vader attain his iconic red-bladed lightsabre and hunt people he knew and once considered friends would be an exciting narrative to explore. We know from Star Wars Legends that the first few Jedi Vader took out helped solidify his belief in the dark side of the force and his hatred for the Jedi Order. He was still learning how to fight while encumbered with armour he’d never had to deal with before.

As he continued hunting his former allies, Vader would eventually come to view killing them as no more difficult than taking out other groups who would dare to oppose the New Order. Vader took joy in seeing the faces of uninformed Jedi when he revealed the truth of who he was.

However, despite him seemingly enjoying the hunt, we know that somewhere deep down, Vader feels guilty for his actions, so it’d be interesting to see how that comes into play. Vader is a ruthless villain, but maybe we can see the moments before he became merciless. Allow him a few moments of weakness before his heart hardens, and he slaughters without hesitation.

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Vader Losing His Faith in the Emperor

Many fans know that after years of working for the Emperor and watching him ruthlessly take over planets and rule over people, Vader would eventually renounce the dark side and return to the light to save his son. However, it would be awesome to see seeds of doubt sown from the very beginning, watching Vader and Sidious’ Master-Apprentice relationship fall apart from the inside out due to disappointment and mistrust from both sides.

The Sith are traitorous and focused only on their personal gain of power, making it incredibly difficult to be one when you know that your fellow Sith is planning your demise from the moment you join forces with them.

Anakin fell because he was promised a way to ensure his wife’s survival. This way came through belief in the dark side which would provide unlimited power. However, Padmé death, caused by Anakin’s paranoia, happened shortly after he accepted his title as Darth Vader. I’m sure his trust in the Emperor almost immediately diminished while plans to overthrow his master began to develop in his head.

Vader would likely continue to lose faith in his master very quickly after that. Nevertheless, according to Star Wars Legends, Palpatine entrusted Vader to oversee the slave trade for the Empire on New Plympto, despite Vader’s history.

Though his master assured him that Imperial methods concerning slaves were “different”, Vader was thoroughly disturbed by what was happening. In Legends, this is the same man who swore to himself that he would eventually free all slaves. It can’t be easy when you become part of the very problem you vowed to fix.

He continued to oversee the trade but was constantly tormented by memories of his past and how he and his mother had been treated for the first few years of his life. Palpatine’s insensitivity concerning Vader’s past and willingness to be involved in the slave trade were the beginnings of the cracks in their relationship.

Vader’s response to Palpatine voicing his displeasure about Vader’s failure to bring Senator Fang Zar in alive was another clear indicator that the Sith Lord no longer trusted his master. While pursuing the senator, who had taken refuge on Alderaan and attempted to escape the Sith, Vader threw his lightsabre at him, and Zar died due to his injuries.

Vader returned to Coruscant to improve his skills and was subjected to listening to the Emperor express his displeasure with Vader’s failure. Sensing his apprentice’s anger with his comments, Palpatine challenged Vader to kill him, then threatened him with Force Lightning. Legends indicated that the Emperor knew of Vader’s suit’s vulnerability to electric shocks. Some fans suspect that he was responsible for ensuring those weaknesses’ existence as fail-safes if Vader proved too challenging to control.

Vader’s response to Palpatine’s pleasantly surprised the Emperor. He informed his master that he did not intend to kill him until he learned everything Palpatine had to offer because he believed his teaching would put him on “the path to power.”

The final incident that cemented Vader’s distrust of the Emperor was his conversation with Clone Commander Vill while dealing with the Bandomeer mining crews. Growing suspicious of his master’s willingness to kill him should he prove difficult and thinking back on Order 66, Vader asked Vill if the clone army at his disposal would attack him if the Emperor ordered it. Vader saw Vill’s non-answer as confirmation and threw the clone off a cliff so he couldn’t relay his suspicions to Sidious.

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His Search for an Apprentice or a Source of Unlimited Power

Anakin is one of the smartest characters in the Star Wars universe, a feat he has proved and disproved several times over the years, both as a Jedi and a Sith. As a young boy, he built a droid from scratch and could easily determine that Qui-Gon Jinn was a Jedi. However, his downfall came from his inability to process his emotions fully.

He was an incredible strategist in battle, and his acknowledgement that he wouldn’t be powerful enough to fight Palpatine on his own further proved how smart he was. Rather than rush into a fight he couldn’t win, he bided his time and waited until he had the power to defeat his Master.

As his plans to overthrow his master began to take shape, Vader started searching for an apprentice he could train in secret to help him defeat Palpatine or an artefact that would help him vastly improve his powers. These searches led him to discover the Muur Talisman, the retrieval of which proved futile. He would also take on and train many apprentices and Dark Jedi, but his plans to overthrow his master didn’t get very far before the Galactic Civil War began.

Darth Vader would be one whose perspective would be exciting to watch from. He’s devastatingly powerful, though he could never reach his full potential due to the emotional turmoil caused by his decisions at the end of the Clone Wars. Watching him come to distrust his master and deal with memories of his past and dreams of the life he could have had would be amazing and incredibly heartbreaking to watch.

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Do you think Darth Vader should get his own Star Wars spin-off franchise?

A Star Wars Franchise Spin-Off That We Really Want To Happen Written by Hannah Lieberum for Fortress of Solitude