Will Obi-Wan Kenobi Have Flashbacks With Anakin Skywalker?
The Obi-Wan Kenobi series is bringing Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen back to their iconic roles of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, respectively. Christensen, however, is being billed as the evolved form of Anakin which is the legendary villain Darth Vader. Still, it's hard to imagine bringing Christensen back to Star Wars and not having sequences which show him in his days as Anakin Skywalker, an ally of the Jedi, as has been seen in animation. ComicBook.com asked Obi-Wan Kenobi director Deborah Chow if we will see Anakin before he fell to the Dark Side in an exclusive interview (seen in full in the video above).
"I can't get into spoiler territory," Chow said, dodging any promise of seeing Anakin Skywalker. "I'm sorry. I can't wait. I know. I can't wait till the day I can actually talk about this thing, but yes."
Though Chow cannot reveal what will likely serve as a delightful surprise for Star Wars fans should it be coming to the series, she did open up about how Anakin and Obi-Wan's relationship is a driving force for the six-episode series. "I think with both of those characters, we're really looking at where are they at this point in their lives," Chow explained. "You know? And also, for Obi-Wan, having Ewan McGregor come back, he just brings so much soul, he brings so much depth to the character, and he's at the point in his life that he feels like he's at the exact right moment to play this character again."
For years, McGregor and Christensen's return was something many Star Wars fans wished for. The actors faced years of interviews for other projects, often being asked if would go back to the galaxy far, far away. Christensen returning to the franchise, this time as a full-blown Darth Vader, is one of the show's key elements which Chow enjoyed exploring. "With Vader, and with Hayden, obviously, it's very similar, where you're bringing back people that played this, and have lived with these roles for so long," she said. "So, so much is about having, these are our characters, but they're at a different point in their lives. So really we were just trying to do justice to where are they? And if that character evolved 10 years later, what would it feel like?"
McGregor echoed a similar sentiment, having revealed that Obi-Wan cannot use the Force to start the series as he is in hiding following Order 66. Obi-Wan will be handling the guilt of having left Anakin for dead, eventually learning he did not successfully finish the job. "I think that's one of the core things we're exploring in the show is that weight, and everything that happened at the end with Order 66 and Anakin," Chow said. "Then also, so many of the Jedi are killed, or they're gone, and all of a sudden he's very isolated, and he's very alone, left with this one task. For us, that's a big part of what we're exploring, is how is he dealing with that? And what to do with all of that."
Are you excited for Obi-Wan Kenobi? Share your thoughts in the comment section! The series premieres on Disney+ on May 27.