Wilhuff Tarkin is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, introduced in the original 1977 Star Wars film (played by Peter Cushing) as one of its two central antagonists, alongside Darth Vader. In the film, Tarkin is depicted as a high-ranking officer of the Galactic Empire, placed in charge of the operations on the Death Star, the Empire's dwarf planet-sized battle station. He orders the destruction of the planet Alderaan by the station's superlaser, and is killed at the end of the film, when Luke Skywalker destroys the Death Star.