by: S. Scott Stanikmas

For a man who has been dead for almost two decades, Peter Cushing may have one of the biggest roles in the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue One.

Sources have been telling The Daily Mail that the studio is currently going through one of the most rigorous CGI re-creations ever to stay faithful to the character and bring Cushing as Tarkin back to life on the big screen:

“This is one of the most complex and costly CGI re-creations ever. Cushing is a pivotal plot line as he was the one to create Darth Vader and there’s a whole back story that will come out.”

One of the things people shit all over with the prequel trilogy as well as George Lucas’ tinkering with the original three films was the overuse and almost sickening reliance on computer graphics over conventional props and puppetry. This could turn out to backfire against the House of Mouse and LucasFilm in the long run.

People do love their throwbacks, and if the rumors are to be believed about the connections to the original trilogy, this will just be another in a long line of blasts from the past for the hardcore fans to geek out about.

I will give it up to the studio – at least they want to be as faithful to the actor as humanly possible. Even going so far so far as to watch hours of other footage to get the actors complete body down pat (in the films Cushing was in he always wore slippers and his feet weren’t visible):

“They are going through hours and hours of old footage from [Peter Cushing’s old] horror movies to recreate his legs and feet to produce realistic movements. It is eerie to see someone who has been dead for so long come to life on a screen.”

Hopefully this all works out for the best and it doesn’t seem hokey. I don’t think Disney would put out a subpar product or even let the process get this far unless it looked really good.

We’ll find out when Star Wars: Rogue One hits theaters December 16, 2016.