The new Disney+ show Obi-Wan Kenobi reunites some of the biggest faces from the Star Wars prequel trilogy, most notably Ewan McGregor in the title role and Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. You’ll recall that we last saw Anakin getting burned to a crisp in 2005’s Revenge of the Jedi before he finally put on Darth Vader’s iconic all-black ensemble. Now, Christensen will play Vader at his evil peak.
But Darth Vader has always been bigger than just one actor. In the original trilogy, he was voiced by James Earl Jones, but the guy who was actually under the suit was David Prowse. Jones returned to voice Vader briefly in Revenge of the Sith and again in the 2016 Star Wars movie Rogue One.
But would he be back for Obi-Wan Kenobi? Now that the third episode is out, we finally know the answer is yes!
James Earl Jones returns as Darth Vader in Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi
James Earl Jones is 91 years old, so there was no guarantee that he’d return to the role of Darth Vader for this new show; if he just wanted to relax and enjoy his golden years, I don’t think anyone would have blamed him. But we’re all very glad he came back, because Darth Vader just isn’t the same without him.
And we have at least three more episodes of Jones’ work to enjoy; Obi-Wan Kenobi will run for a total of six. And Disney loves making sequels and spinoffs, so who’s to say he won’t appear after that?
True, at 91 years old, the clock is ticking on how much longer Jones can play Vader, but we’ll appreciate him as long as we have him.
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