'Rogue One' release date, cast news 2016: Darth Vader will make an appearance; character details revealed

Darth Vader will appear in the upcoming "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," the first stand-alone film in "Star Wars Anthology."

"Star Wars" fans have been speculating that the hero/villain will emerge in the film since it was announced that "Rogue One" is set between the events in "Revenge of the Sith" (2005) and "A New Hope" (1977).

"Rogue One" follows a band of Rebels who are tasked with stealing the plans for the original Death Star. These are the same architectural plans that Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) gave to R2-D2 in "A New Hope" and that drove the events in the original "Star Wars" trilogy. As such, it seemed to make sense that Darth Vader, the Empire's ultimate villain, would somehow be involved in things. Nonetheless, it wasn't until Entertainment Weekly unveiled its latest cover that this bit was confirmed.

As EW has revealed, Darth Vader will certainly be back — with a vengeance — in this year's "Star Wars" stand-alone.

EW has also released the full names of the heroes and villains that will populate "Rogue One." They are headed by Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), a character who is said to have a "checkered past."

"She has been detained [by the Rebellion] and is being given an opportunity to be useful," Lucasfilm president and "Rogue One" producer Kathleen Kennedy said. "And by being useful, it may commute her sentence... She's a real survivor. She becomes a kind of Joan of Arc in the story."

Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) joins Jyn in her mission. "He conveys a fair amount of experience and the reality of what it's like to do this every day, to try to figure out how to resist the Empire effectively and intelligently," Lucasfilm's chief of story development Kiri Hart said.

Meanwhile, Forest Whitaker plays Saw Gerrera, a character with a remarkably deep background in the "Star Wars" universe. Saw, who was first seen in the fifth season of the animated series "The Clone Wars," is a battle-hardened fighter who leads a group of Rebel extremists.

"He's on the fringe of the Rebel Alliance," Kennedy explained. "Even [they] are a little concerned about him."

The film also stars Donnie Yen as Chirrut Imwe, Mads Mikkelsen as Galen Erso, Jiang Wen as Baze Malbus, Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook, Alan Tudyk as K-2SO, and Ben Mendelsohn as Director Orson Krennic.

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" is slated to hit theaters on Dec. 16.