We will see “a very powerful Vader” in Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi

Disney is drumming up hype for its upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi show, and Entertainment Weekly has a lengthy spread about what to expect.

The series will mark the returns of Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen again playing the roles of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader respectively, which they last played way back in 2005’s Revenge of the Sith. The new show will take place around 10 years after that movie, when Obi-Wan is living in exile on the planet of Tatooine watching over a young Luke Skywalker. But to understand how we got here after nearly 20 years, let’s first go back to the original prequel trilogy, which received more than its fair share of harsh criticism from fans.

“I found it quite hard,” McGregor said about the reaction to the prequels. “For it to come out and get knocked so hard was personally quite difficult to deal with. And also, it was quite early in my career. I didn’t really know how to deal with that. I’d been involved with things that just didn’t make much of a ripple, but that’s different from making something that makes a negative ripple.”

Christensen also found it difficult. “When the films came out and the critics were very critical, of course that was a difficult thing — because you care so much about this thing that you’ve invested so much of yourself into,” he said. “So, for sure, that’s challenging.”

For years, neither McGregor nor Christensen seemed eager to return to Star Wars, but as time passed, criticism of the prequels seemed to level out. “Now I meet the people who we made those films for, who were the kids of the time,” McGregor said. “And our Star Wars films are their Star Wars films. In the way that Carrie Fisher and Alec Guinness and Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford’s films were ours, we’re theirs. And that’s beautiful that they were important to the kids who we made them for. It’s just so nice to finally get that wave of positivity about them.”

Why Ewan McGregor and decided to return for Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi

With a new buoyancy, McGregor and Christensen started to feel better about maybe heading back to that galaxy far, far away. And it was good timing, too, because Disney had bought Lucasfilm and was excited to wring all it could out of the Star Wars name.

For instance, Darth Vader made his return in Rogue One, appearing for an action sequence that blew out the backs of fans’ heads. “I wasn’t a part of any of those conversations about Rogue One,” Christensen said. “But I loved what they did with it. The character predates me, and it’s always been a collective effort in a lot of ways. I thought it was brilliant.”

Around that time, Lucasfilm made contact with McGregor about returning for an Obi-Wan Kenobi movie. After Disney decided to pivot to streaming, the movie became a TV series. And after a production shut-down and rewrite, it became the TV series we’re going to see in May.

Will Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi only last one season?

And what kind of show is it, exactly? “Obi-Wan is lost,” McGregor said. “He’s a broken man after what happened with the Jedi order at the end of Episode III, but also what happened with Anakin; that he lost him to the dark side. He feels an enormous amount of responsibility for that, and guilt.”

Over the course of the next six episodes, we’ll see how Obi-Wan goes from this washed up figure to the model of peace and serenity that he is at the start of the original Star Wars movie, when he’s played by Alec Guinness. That probably means this is a one-and-done kind of series — that’s how director Deborah Chow talks about it — but this is Disney we’re talking about. That company never met a franchise it didn’t want to run into the ground, so it’s very possible the show could continue.

“It’s certainly something we talk about, mainly because everybody came together and had such an incredible time,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said. “Ewan had an incredible time. Hayden had an incredible time. So certainly from that point of view, everybody involved would love to see this not end.”

"But we have to really spend our time asking the question: Why would we do it? If we were to decide to do anything more with the Obi-Wan character, we’d have to really answer the question why?"

Questions for another time. Right now, let’s get back to the Darth Vader of it all.

Hayden Christensen is back as Darth Vader

So the show is called Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, but obviously people are really excited to see Christensen back as Darth Vader, and to see the two of these guys square off again. But how much is of Christensen’s Vader is actually in the show? “I wish I could tell you,” Christensen said. “I’m sworn to secrecy.”

That said, he did give us one tease: “We’re going to see a very powerful Vader,” the actor promised. And writer Joby Harold teased the character’s long shadow:

"His shadow is cast across so much of what we do. And the degree of his proximity to that shadow is something that we’ll discover. But he is very much a part of the show emotionally for Obi-Wan, and possibly beyond that as well."

Let’s just hope that when Vader finally does show up, it’s as imposing to us as it was to the crew. “When he first came on set for us, it definitely had a very special feeling. The first time I saw him in costume, he was towering over me. He was literally almost twice my size!” Chow said. “It’s really intense to have such an iconic character, and then to be directing him and doing new scenes with him…. I do remember poor Ewan on that day being like, ‘What am I, chopped liver?'”

We also don’t know if the 91-year-old James Earl Jones, who has traditionally provided the iconic voice of Darth Vader, will return.

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on Disney+ on May 25.

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