'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' plot news 2016: Ian McDiarmid confirms that Emperor Palpatine will not appear; image of Darth Vader revealed

Though fans are sure that Darth Vader will be making an appearance in Gareth Edwards' "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," Ian McDiarmid, who has played Emperor Palpatine since "Return of the Jedi," confirms that he will not be appearing in the upcoming "Star Wars" movie.

According to ComicBookMovie, McDiarmid confirmed this in an interview during the Amsterdam Comic-Con. Many fans are still curious, however, on the identity of the black-robed figure in the "Rogue One" teaser. If that wasn't Palpatine, then who could it possibly be?

Some fans think that it's highly unlikely that Lucasfilm would choose to recast the role for "Rogue One." They did cast somebody else other than David Prowse to portray Darth Vader, but with Prowse's age, people are expecting this movie's Vader to be more active and participatory in the battlefield.

McDiarmid's role as Palpatine could not even be hindered by the actor's age because Palpatine is already an elderly character. It's best to assume that the Emperor will have more stuff to do other than overseeing the completion of his superweapon.

Lucasfilm is not shy on having characters reprise their roles from the two trilogies. This movie even has Jimmy Smits returning to reprise his role as Bail Organa from the prequel trilogy, and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" even had Ewan McGregor do voiceover work for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Frank Oz was also asked to do some recording work as Yoda in Rey's (Daisy Ridley) Force vision.

In other news, it looks like fans will finally get to see the face of "Rogue One's" Darth Vader. Some promotional material has been released for the movie, and it shows a picture of Vader very reminiscent of his appearance in "A New Hope"— meaning that he looks bulkier and less sleek than Vader's suit in "Revenge of the Sith."

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" hits theaters this December.