Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader will face off once again in the Disney Plus series “Obi-Wan Kenobi” — at least, that is the strong implication in a sneak peak of the Lucasfilm production released on the streamer on Nov. 12.
While the preview did not include any footage from the series, concept art appears to show Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) and Vader (Hayden Christensen) locked in a lightsaber battle.
McGregor further underlined the confrontation in an interview in the preview: “To have another swing at each other might be quite satisfying,” he said.The moment resolves a lingering question in the “Star Wars” canon: After Obi-Wan’s tragic battle with Anakin Skywalker in “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” which forced Anakin to wear his iconic black armor and helmet as Darth Vader, did the former brothers-in-arms see each other again before their final battle in “Star Wars: A New Hope,” set 19 years later? Apparently so!
“We couldn’t tell the story of Obi-Wan Kenobi without addressing Anakin or Vader,” says director Deborah Chow in the preview.
Lucasfilm had previously announced that “Obi-Wan Kenobi” is set 10 years after the events of “Revenge of the Sith,” which Chow says is “quite a dark time” for Obi-Wan, one of the last remaining Jedi.
“It’s not safe,” Chow says. “There’s Jedi hunters out there.”
In that environment, McGregor says that his “one task left” on the desolated planet of Tatooine is to keep the young Luke Skywalker safe — all while Darth Vader hunts for him.
The long-rumored series was finally confirmed by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy in August 2019 at the Disney fan convention D23 with McGregor. The show was subsequently delayed in January 2020 after Joby Harold replaced the original head writer, Hossein Amini, and then the pandemic shutdown further delayed production until the spring of 2021.
McGregor seemed to acknowledge the delays in the Disney Plus preview. “There’s a hunger for this character to come back,” he said. “The fans have been waiting long enough, you know?”
The early look at “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” which is set to premiere in 2022, is part of the larger Disney Plus Day celebration of the streamer’s two year anniversary.
Joel Edgerton is also set to reprise is role as Luke’s Uncle Lars. The show will also star Bonnie Piesse, Moses Ingram, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, Benny Safdie and Maya Erskine.
