Star Wars: Is the Obi-Wan Kenobi Series About Trying to Redeem Darth Vader?

Is the Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi series all about trying to redeem Darth Vader? Lucasfilm has kept the exact details of the Obi-Wan Kenobi event series under tight wraps, but the new production start announcement and has full cast reveal have helped hardcore Star Wars fans connect some important dots. The events of Obi-Wan Kenobi will be set ten years after Revenge of the Sith – the last time that Obi-Wan saw Anakin Skywalker, during their tragic duel on Mustafar.

That timeline, compared with some key lines and moments from Star Wars’ Original Trilogy certainly make the case that this particular chapter of Obi-Wan’s life will be about trying to redeem Anakin from the nightmare of Darth Vader.

“Obi-Wan Once Thought As You Do”

This line of dialogue from Darth Vader comes from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, in a scene where Vader is taking Luke Skywalker to the emperor. Luke senses conflict between the “Anakin Skywalker” and “Darth Vader” personas inside his father and doubts his commitment to the Emperor. Luke goes so far as to try and tempt Vader to escape with him, but Vader resists the offer, stating that, ” Obi-Wan once thought as you do. You don’t know the power of the Dark Side. I MUST obey my Master.”

There’s been a great deal of attention paid to that line since the release of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy since it doesn’t seem to jibe with the events of Obi-Wan and Anakin’s duel in Revenge of the Sith. Other fans tried to argue that the dialogue from TROTS was sufficient enough to coincide with Vader’s account of things in ROTJ – but clearly, the powers behind Star Wars feel that there is more story to tell there.

Obi-Wan vs. Vader

The other big gap in Star Wars canon is the fact that Obi-Wan already knows that Anakin became Vader by the time of the events of Star Wars: A New Hope. At the end of The Revenge of the Sith, Kenobi thinks that Anakin dies a gruesome death on Mustafar – so the realization that he’s Vader is still a part of the story that needs telling. In the nineteen years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope it only makes sense that Obi-Wan would try to confront – and redeem – Vader at least once.

Now Obi-Wan Kenobi can fill in that gap in the timeline, in a powerful, dramatic, way. Obi-Wan hearing tell of Vader would be about the only thing that could compel him to leave his post watching over Luke Skywalker on Tatooine, in order to check out if the powerful Sith Lord is indeed his former friend and apprentice. And once he confirms it, Obi-Wan is the type to at least try and bring Anakin back to the light – at least once.

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi will stream on Disney+ in 2022.