Star Wars: Rogue One has been filming for a few weeks, but like any massive studio franchise tentpole film worth your time and fascination, it’s shrouded in a thick cloud of secrecy. Eventually, that shroud will come down by accident or design, but today saw two minor but noteworthy frays appear. Between the rumored appearance of a classic original trilogy villain in Gareth Edwards’ spinoff film and one of his stars teasing new stuff on social media, the details of Rogue One are slooowly coming into focus.

That first piece of news is one that raises as many questions as it ruffles feathers. According to the Daily Mail (which is internet code for “take this with a grain of salt”), the villainous Grand Moff Tarkin will return to the live action Star Wars universe for the first time since 1977. Originally played by the legendary Peter Cushing, he was the mastermind behind the Death Star and the cruel, calculating military commander holding Darth Vader’s leash. Since Rogue One follows the team of Rebel soldiers who steal the Death Star plans and trigger the events of the first Star Wars movie, it would make sense for Tarkin to be involved.

But how do we feel about about a CGI recreation of Cushing? Because that is the rumored plan:

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.

That quote from the Daily Mail article is … Well, it’s a little weird. Tarkin did not “create” Darth Vader. That would be Emperor Palpatine. Either the person responsible for that quote doesn’t know Star Wars and is running off vague memories of the original film or he knows something big that we don’t. We’d wager the former.

In any case, we do believe that Rogue One could and would utilize a digital Peter Cushing, although we also can’t help but think that it’s a little weird. Commercials have been digitally resurrecting deceased actors for a long time now and it’s never not been uncomfortable. At the very least, this digital Peter Cushing will be a player in an actual story, not a vessel to sell us jackets or soft drinks. It’s weird, but it’s certainly more respectable than CGI Steve McQueen selling you a car.

This story only adds to a pet theory cooked up in our Star Wars news column WookieeLeaks: Tarkin is, somehow, extremely important moving forward. Why else would he get his own prequel novel set in the new canon and get re-introduced on Star Wars Rebels? And then there’s this wacky theory that we will only link to because of potential spoilers.

But enough speculation! Here is a new photo from the Rogue One set snapped by cast member (and totally badass martial artist) Donnie Yen (UPDATE: Yen has since deleted the image off Instagram, but it still lives on Twitter):

Even your mother knows that the helmet in the middle is the classic Stormtrooper design, but what about the other two? And does this image say anything about Yen’s character or did he simply see a great opportunity for a photo? Maybe he’s a master of disguise or something?

Star Wars: Rogue One will open on December 16, 2016.

More From ScreenCrush