Darth Vader is back for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, a decision Lucasfilm President Kathy Kennedy said involved a lot of debate.
Darth Vader is back for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, a decision Lucasfilm President Kathy Kennedy said involved a lot of debate.
Vader will be brought to life by Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin Skywalker in the prequel trilogy and filled Vader’s suit for the end of Revenge of the Sith. All official communication for the show has been clear to clarify that Christensen is playing Vader, but is that the whole story? After all, when they brought Vader back for Rogue One, Christensen was not involved whatsoever. So why do that now, aside from just the on-set reunion with Ewan McGregor?
The most likely reason is that Christensen will be playing more than just Darth Vader.
With him back on board it seems like a no-brainer, and last month McGregor mentioned filming scenes “together again as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.” And as if that wasn’t enough, in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly that was posted on Youtube, McGregor again let slip about filming with Anakin. Here was his answer about reuniting with Christensen, and I’ve emphasized the pertinent part in bold:
“To see Hayden back in the role of Anakin, well it was sort of spine-tingling. It was amazing. It was just amazing to see Hayden, full stop. I’m so close with him, we’ve stayed in touch over the years, but we haven’t seen each other for a long time. And as it got closer and closer to the shoot, and once Hayden was on board he was in LA and we met. It was during the lockdown and we met in Santa Monica in a park and we both walked along with our masks on outdoors and we had this long catch-up. It was so lovely. It had just been years since we actually saw each other, not for any reason other than just locations. I was here and he was in Canada. But I love him so much and we have a very special bond of making two of those first three films together. And it was so important for both of us, for our careers and for who we are, and so we just had so much to catch up on. Life stuff and where we’re at, and it was so lovely to see him again. And then to be on set with him again was just odd, it was like time hadn’t happened or something. I looked across at him and we’re on a set, and I look over at him, he’s Anakin now and I’m Obi-Wan now, and it’s like nothing had happened. I didn’t see any age on his face, I just felt like the period of time between Episode III and now just hadn’t happened. It was so peculiar.”
At this point it seems like a foregone conclusion that Hayden Christensen is not just playing Darth Vader but will also be playing Anakin Skywalker, which is awesome. The Book of Boba Fett recently utilized flashbacks as a key part of its story, and while I don’t expect anything close to that same kind of reliance on flashbacks in Obi-Wan Kenobi, I do think we’ll see some. I’m sure that’s a large part of the reason why Christensen was brought back for this project, and it would certainly be epic to see them on-screen again as friends and not just as enemies.
And if they’re going the flashback route, there’s plenty of other characters that could make an appearance too (like, say, Ahsoka Tano or Captain Rex), and I think it would be a great opportunity to do so. Nevertheless the heartbeat of this story sounds like it will be all about Obi-Wan and Anakin, as it should be. I’m honestly expecting this series to become almost staple viewing in the Star Wars saga, in line with the Skywalker films. Obi-Wan is protecting the son of Skywalker and will face off with Skywalker himself once more – and if we get scenes of him and Skywalker as friends and brothers, all the better!
It sounds like that’s going to happen. And my excitement for this show only continues to grow and grow.
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