The Star Wars prequel trilogy was met with an extreme amount of criticism. Much of it was well-deserved, but some of it was a result of the series not living up to the immense expectations of the sprawling fanbase of the original trilogy. The series does, at its core, tell the story about how the tools of democracy can be used to work against itself and allow for the rise of authoritarianism in a free society, as well as how a once well-intentioned person can be convinced to commit acts of unspeakable atrocity.
While the prequel Star Wars trilogy served to show how a young child could eventually grow up to become the evil tyrant that is Darth Vader, it still left a sizeable gap in the continuity between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. However, with the announcement that Hayden Christensen would reprise their role as the Sith lord along with Ewan McGregor making a return as the titular character in the upcoming Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Disney seems to be looking to fill in the unknowns of this period of time in the universe.
At the start of Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker has fully aligned himself with the Sith, has donned the iconic suit and mask, and has either lost or left behind everything he knew. The only woman he loves has died largely as a result of his actions, and perhaps the only thing more charred and destroyed than his outsides is how he feels on the inside. Now, with the galactic empire building an army and gaining steam to dominate the far reaches of space, Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi will have the chance to examine Anakin as he truly inhabits the role of Darth Vader.
Now, at this point in the story, Anakin Skywalker is no stranger to being a willing participant in atrocity. He did, after all, slaughter a room full of fledgling Jedi children. It’s going to be hard to make the character seem more evil than that moment, unless viewers eventually learn that it was his idea to blow up Alderaan in the first place.
After the fall of the Jedi council and the rise of Emperor Palpatine, Obi-Wan and Yoda are forced into hiding as the only remaining Jedi who haven’t joined the Dark Side. Taking place 10 years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, viewers are probably only going to get a glimpse, if at all, of what adjusting to life on the run will be like for the two Jedi as the empire’s fascism takes hold of the galaxy, most likely in the form of flashbacks.
However, these characters don’t have to necessarily be in the same place that viewers saw them when they debuted in the original trilogy. Perhaps Yoda hasn’t quite found his swamp on Dagobah, and viewers will likely see Obi-Wan’s efforts to mitigate the empire’s evil across the galaxy before finally returning to Tatooine to recruit Luke Skywalker. This paves the way for all sorts of galactic adventures for the two characters, all grounded by the Heisenberg-level heel turn that Anakin Skywalker is going through.
There are plenty of questions in regards to how prominent certain characters will feature in Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi. Will viewers get to see Luke Skywalker grow up as a whiny farm boy on Tatooine, with a scene featuring where he “bulls-eyes” womp rats with a T-16 skyhopper? Will Leia’s rise to the role of princess on Alderaan be explored at all in a sort of combination of Game of Thrones fantastical political intrigue with the deep-space setting of Star Wars? Will viewers see Han Solo and Lando Calrissian yet again? Placing the series in this era opens up all sorts of possibilities, even if some fans of the original movies perhaps enjoyed the ambiguity of the previously unexplored time frames in the Star Wars universe.
Still, it’s likely that, despite the series being named after Obi-Wan, Anakin Skywalker will be a large driving force behind the plot of Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi. Anakin is portrayed as having been largely lost to the incredible pull of the Dark Side at the end of Revenge of the Sith, but there’s still plenty of room for the character to develop, as Anakin’s remaining shreds of humanity are what ultimately save Luke Skywalker at the end of Return of the Jedi. Does Obi-Wan attempt to maintain contact with Anakin in a bid to turn him away from the empire?
It’s likely in the series that viewers will see Anakin pushed to commit greater and greater atrocity as the stranglehold the empire has on the galaxy solidifies, all while the Rebel Alliance gains steam. Since Darth Vader is portrayed as redeemed at the end of the original trilogy, there may be some reluctance on Anakin’s part, and longtime fans may get to see yet more moments where Anakin’s good nature shines through. It’s possible the series may go in the opposite direction, however, portraying him as truly embracing his role as a villain, making the redemption in Return of the Jedi as that much more stark of a contrast, though this might make said redemption harder to believe.
No matter what the series has in store for its characters, it’s clear that Disney has no desire to let the Star Wars franchise fade from anybody’s memories any time soon. With Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen returning, it’ll really give the series a feeling of continuity, as the actors will have aged the same amount of time as their characters since the last film.
It’ll also be a chance for Hayden Christensen to redeem himself, as well. It has been said that Christensen is actually a very talented actor who had to work with a bad script, something that’s been a stain on his career ever since the movies came out. Clearly, the producers felt he was capable enough to continue to carry the mantle of such a pivotal character in the series.
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