Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi Director Teases a Different Kind of Darth Vader in Series

Once Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, it would be easy to assume he existed as a one-dimensional villain, but according to Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi director Deborah Chow, audiences will see a different interpretation of the Sith Lord from what we saw in Star Wars: A New Hope. Of course, we shouldn't expect a drastically different variation of the figure, which means we might see a version that is more ruthless or a version that has slightly more sentimentality. Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on Disney+ on May 25th.

"For us, it's very similar [to Obi-Wan] in the sense that he's in between these two trilogies," Chow expressed to Entertainment Weekly. "So he isn't the New Hope Vader quite yet, you know what I mean? So we are with the character sort of in the middle of this period. It is still Vader obviously, but it's a Vader that isn't quite as fully formed as A New Hope."

It's worth noting that this won't be the first time we'll see the character around this point in time, as Vader was a key villain in Star Wars Rebels, though this will still be the first time we've seen this exploration of the character in live-action, as his appearance in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story tied directly into the opening scene of A New Hope.

While there have been conflicting reports about whether Vader was always intended to be involved in the story, Chow claimed the broken relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin was always an important part of the adventure.

"Honestly, for me the starting place was that I really wanted to do something that was character-based and character-driven, because that is the benefit of the limited series, is that you have more time to sort of tell a real character story," the filmmaker explained. "And so for me, the starting place of character is you just start and you look at who has been important to him in his life. And it's quite hard to avoid Anakin/Vader in that scenario, especially coming out of Revenge of the Sith."

She added, "So really it came out of an evolution of the character for me. It wasn't just to sort of bring him back. It was really like, who means something and where are we at this point in the timeline with Vader?"

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

Are you looking forward to seeing Vader in the new series? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!