In addition to the announcement of all-new Star Wars series like Ahsoka and Rangers of the New Republic, Disney’s recent Investor Day event brought a handful of announcements about the highly anticipated Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries, which will chronicle the fan-favorite Jedi’s exile on Tatooine between the prequel and original trilogies. One such announcement was the tantalizing news that Hayden Christensen will reprise his role as Darth Vader in the series.
While the prospect of seeing Christensen back on-screen alongside Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan has Star Wars fans foaming at the mouth, the specifics of Anakin’s return have caused some skepticism. According to Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy, the new series will feature “the rematch of the century” between Obi-Wan and Vader. The only problem with this is that Obi-Wan and Vader already had a rematch on the Death Star in the original 1977 movie, and this new rematch could undermine that.
In the thrilling final act of Revenge of the Sith, after Anakin turns to the dark side and assists Palpatine and the Clone Army in wiping out the Jedi Order, Obi-Wan confronts his fallen apprentice on the volcanic plains of Mustafar. This is one of the most legendary and emotionally charged lightsaber duels in the entire saga, encapsulating the tragic dynamic shared by the powerful young Force user whose emotions got the better of him and the master who failed to keep his padawan on the right path in one explosive setpiece.
In the current timeline, after the Mustafar duel, the next time Obi-Wan sees Vader is on the Death Star. When he finds Obi-Wan aboard his space station, Vader tells him, “When I left you, I was but the learner. Now, I am the master.” This duel is much more subdued than the fight on Mustafar, but this is only because Lucas initially conceived lightsabers to have a more reserved style of swordplay. It’s nowhere near as visceral or intense as the Mustafar fight, but that works with the fact that they’re older than when they last engaged in combat. Alec Guinness plays Obi-Wan’s journey through the scene perfectly. Having grown older and wiser, Kenobi has learned the ability to come back as a Force ghost and given the Jedi a new hope in passing on the torch to Anakin’s son, so he’s happy to lose to Vader this time around.
Deborah Chow, who has directed episodes of The Mandalorian and has been tapped to helm every episode of the Obi-Wan series, told GamesRadar, “We couldn’t tell the story of Obi-Wan without Darth Vader. We will definitely see Obi-Wan and Darth Vader get into it again.” On one hand, Chow is right – Obi-Wan’s character arc is defined by his relationship with Anakin and his failings as a teacher – but on the other hand, the story of Kenobi and Vader has been told in the Skywalker saga and The Clone Wars. By reopening that story and adding new details to it, Lucasfilm risks making the Mustafar duel less effective because it’s no longer Obi-Wan’s last stand against Anakin, and risks making the Death Star duel less effective because it’s no longer the first time they’re seeing each other since Obi-Wan left Anakin for dead.
There’s a lot of dramatic weight in knowing that the former master and apprentice never reunited between Obi-Wan defeating Vader on Mustafar and Vader defeating Obi-Wan on the Death Star, because Obi-Wan always blamed himself for Anakin’s turn to the dark side and Vader wanted to remove himself from his past life as Anakin and commit himself to the Emperor as much as possible. Including such a reunion 10 years after the events of Revenge of the Sith in the new Obi-Wan series will weaken the characters’ arc. Thanks to this retcon, Obi-Wan and Vader’s duel in A New Hope won’t have nearly as much impact. Now, when Vader confronts Obi-Wan on the Death Star, instead of saying, “When I left you, I was but the learner,” he might as well say, “Hey, Obi-Wan, remember when I saw you a few years ago?”
Of course, there’s every chance that if Lucasfilm is bringing back Christensen to play Vader in the Obi-Wan series, they have a really great idea for how to pull it off. A lot of the creative team behind The Mandalorian are working on Obi-Wan Kenobi, and that series has yet to disappoint fans with the return of a beloved character, having nailed the appearances of Ahsoka Tano, Boba Fett, and Luke Skywalker. The writers might have figured out an exciting way to incorporate a new battle between Kenobi and Vader onto the established timeline, offering a stepping stone between their current duels. Until the long-awaited Kenobi miniseries drops on Disney+, which could be a while away because shooting hasn’t begun yet and no release date has been announced, fans will have plenty of time to speculate about Obi-Wan’s rematch with Vader.