'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' spoilers news 2016: one forgotten theory regarding Darth Vader re-emerges

A lot has been talked about regarding "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" especially with the film gearing to arrive this week. At this point, every trailer, teaser and just about anything official from Lucasfilm Ltd. about the film have been dissected by the fans. But one specific scene all the way from the first trailer has been making a buzz recently with a possible answer that it originally posed.

Remember that quick shot of the red guards with a cloaked figure seemingly kneeling in front of a tank from the first trailer? That particular sequence has yet to come up in any other sneak peek clips for the film since then, with others saying that due to the re-shoots, the part could have been removed altogether from the final cut of the movie. For a time, it seemed a little bit forgotten until a possible missing piece of the puzzle emerged from an unusual source.

As part of its marketing machine to promote "Rogue One," Lucasfilm Ltd. released a featurette sharing some snippets of how Gareth Edwards and his team concocted a contemporary film set in the prequel time. At one point, in the video, a concept drawing in the background coupled with what looks like a dummy of the design are visible. And from the looks of it, it is pretty reminiscent of what Anakin (Hayden Christensen) looked like after Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) cut off his limbs in "Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith." Check the clip below at around 21-second timestamp.

Piecing two and two together, a previous running theory about the Vader in the tank, which can be a Bacta Tank once again picks up steam. The only caveat about this, however, is the identity of the cloaked figure who is kneeling supposedly in front of Vader. With the Redrobes only exclusive to the Emperor, it does not make any sense that Palpatine will be kneeling in front of his right-hand man except if there is a juicier story surrounding it.

It is no secret that Vader will be a part of "Rogue One" at a time where he is at his most ruthless. And there is no denying that he would leave dead bodies in his tracks. But it will be particularly interesting if fans will be able to see him without his iconic armor tying the prequel trilogy to the standalone film.

The aforementioned shot shares the same boat of Saw Gerrera's (Forest Whitaker) first look at having no hair. It can be argued however that the teasers are jumping back and forth in terms of the timeline for the veteran freedom fighter to have two looks, but given that "Rogue One" is part of the "Star Wars" lore, fans are extra observant in terms of details.

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" blasts through theaters next week, Dec. 16.