Star Wars News | MAJOR Kenobi Update | Darth Vader News!

Star Wars News - MAJOR Kenobi Update - Darth Vader News!Show more

In the last few days, I’ve begun sharing what I know about the Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi series coming to Disney+. After yesterday’s article where I laid out how Dmitrious Bistrevsky, Tom O’Connell, and Hayden Christensen are the team of performers bringing Darth Vader back to life for the Disney+ series, many of you had questions. How many episodes is Darth Vader in? Does he just show up at the end?

Several sources spoke to me about Darth Vader and the fight as well as the lead up to it. These sources all said a version of the same thing to some extent. The first episodes are about Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa and the Inquisitors. But by the third episode, Darth Vader returns. Episode 3, 4, 5, and 6 all feature Darth Vader as the main antagonist pulling the strings. Vader’s role is major and the hype is not misplaced.

If you are excited for Darth Vader returning like I am, you’re going to get exactly what you want. This Darth Vader is flipping and kicking. Think of him more like the Darth Vader in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story but angrier. I recently wrote about how he force pushes Obi-Wan a great distance. He’s no joke. Sources are saying when Luke fights Darth Vader, you are going to see huge a difference between Darth Vader talking to Luke and trying to kill Obi-Wan Kenobi here some twelve years before the Empire Strikes Back confrontation with Luke. He’s out for blood.

Speaking of Tom O’Connell, I’m told he also plays a Jedi Knight in Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi. In the series he plays a Zabrak Jedi, like Darth Maul but without the face tattoos (think Eeth Koth). It isn’t clear if he’s one of the surviving Jedi or if his character stems from one of the Order 66 flash backs. But the take away is there are new and unknown Jedi in this series. One a side note, when Tom isn’t playing Darth Vader and Jedi in this series, he’s playing a Mandalorian in season three of The Mandalorian and performing stunts for the Mandos. What an interesting dude!

Ewan McGregor opens up about reuniting with Hayden Christensen for the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series, which is set to premiere on Disney+ on May 25. The show will see McGregor's highly-anticipated reprisal of his role as the titular Jedi Master, in addition the return of Christensen to the Star Wars universe as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. Other confirmed cast members include Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse as Owen and Beru Lars, and Sung Kang, Indira Varma, Kumail Nanjiani, and others in unconfirmed roles.

It's been 17 years since McGregor last played the beloved Jedi, though many iterations of Obi-Wan have been seen across animated Star Wars projects, such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. The last time audiences saw McGregor and Christensen on screen together in live-action was their epic face-off on Mustafar in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, with many fans eager to see the rematch between the former Master-Padawan duo. The Obi-Wan Kenobi series will pick up approximately 10 years after Episode III and is expected to feature glimpses of a young Luke Skywalker's upbringing on the desert planet, with Obi-Wan in hiding from the lurking hand of the Empire.

While speaking with Forbes, McGregor talks all things Kenobi and describes his experience working with Christensen again as "fantastic." While carefully avoiding any spoilers, McGregor praises director Deborah Chow for her extensive knowledge of the Star Wars universe, and promises that the show is "really going to satisfy" fans. McGregor's full quote can be read below:

It was a great experience. Deborah Chow directed all the episodes and she’s really good. She directed a couple [episodes] of The Mandalorian and she’s a really great director. She really knows the Star Wars world, inside out, far more than I do (laughs). We just had a great time. I think it’s no secret that Hayden Christensen comes back and we got to play scenes together again as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker and it was just fantastic to work with him again.