Written by Edwin Francisco
When Darth Vader appears in Disney Plus’ Obi-Wan Kenobi, he’s still in his early stages. In other words, he hasn’t become the Darth Vader of 1977‘s Star Wars yet. He’s still evolving.
There are many years between Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. 19 years in between.
Disney Plus’ Obi-Wan Kenobi series is set only a few years after the events of Sith.
We did see a young Luke Skywalker in the trailer. So things have changed for both Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen).
Obi-Wan Kenobi director Deborah Chow said that the Darth Vader in the show is not the same one in A New Hope.
Disney Plus’ Obi-Wan Kenobi Will Show Different Side To Darth Vader
Image: Lucasfilm
Entertainment Weekly interviewed Chow in relation to Darth Vader’s return. Chow explained:
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?
EW had a follow up question on what kind of Darth Vader we will see in the show. Chow answered:
For us, it’s very similar [to Obi-Wan] in the sense that he’s in between these two trilogies. So he isn’t the New Hope Vader quite yet. 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.
For sure this has to take into account the events of the 2017 Marvel comic book Star Wars: Darth Vader, which Charles Soule wrote. In the comic, the main objective of Darth Vader is to hunt down the remaining Jedi with the help of the Inquisitors. However, the story behind it focuses on Anakin Skywalker’s personal turmoil.
He built a castle in Mustafar to enhance his dark side energies with the hope of resurrecting Padme. But as he tries to resurrect her spirit, his life flashes before him. The death of his mother, the training, his love for Padme, his fight against his own Padawan, Ashoka. His anger for both the Emperor Palpatine and Obi-Wan Kenobi. But in this vision, Padme still dies in front of him.
Disney Plus’ Obi-Wan Kenobi Will Show Different Side To Darth Vader
Image: Marvel Comics Group
How has Darth Vader changed in the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series? In Revenge of the Sith, he was drawn to the dark side of the Force because he was driven by his love for Padme. Even in the comics, everything he did was for Padme, trying to get her back.
His love for Padme made him embrace the dark side in the hopes of protecting her. His anger for Obi-Wan Kenobi made Anakin lose the battle against his best friend.
In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and A New Hope, we see Darth Vader in full control of himself. Even with the dark side, he is calm and collected.
So in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, we will be seeing a version of Darth Vader that we haven’t seen before.