The long-awaited Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series is set to finally premiere on Disney+ this May. The series will feature the return of Ewan McGregor as the famed Jedi master, a role that he has not taken up since 2005’s Revenge of the Sith. Upon confirmation that the series was officially greenlit was news that Hayden Christensen would also be appearing in the series as the Sith Lord Darth Vader. While this news came as a no surprise to many fans of the franchise, executives at Lucasfilm were initially hesitant to bring back the famed villain. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, several of the key players behind the series expressed their hesitancy at bringing Vader back for Kenobi.
Kathleen Kennedy, who serves as president of Lucasfilm, said that there was constant debate on if bringing Vader back would be good for the series. The executive detailed that bringing back the character stirred strong opinions, especially given the level of interest in the series. In the end, Deborah Chow, the director of Obi-Wan Kenobi, pushed for the inclusion of the character. In making the decision, Chow said that she looked to the series as a character study. In Chow’s view, any character story is incomplete without the people who are most important to the subject of the series. As fans of Star Wars know, Obi-Wan has a long history with Vader, who was formerly known as Anakin Skywalker. In addition to serving together in the Clone Wars, Anakin was Obi-Wan’s Jedi apprentice. Given the long history between the two, Chow felt that it would have been impossible to tell a true Obi-Wan Kenobi story without Vader.
Once the decision was made and Christensen officially on board to return in the role, Chow admitted that shooting scenes with such an iconic character was incredibly intriguing. In addressing the series’ take on Vader, Chow says that while the dark lord is not the same fallen Jedi he was in Revenge of the Sith, he is also not the Vader fans met from A New Hope yet either. Remaining coy on details, Chow says that the Vader featured in Obi-Wan Kenobi is not a fully realized version of the ruthless leader yet. Rather, the series offers a glimpse of Vader in a middle portion of his life that has thus far gone unexplored in Star Wars lore.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ on May 25.
