Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen and director Deborah Chow address the retconning of Vader's line in A New Hope in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi. After the events of Revenge of the Sith, Kenobi (McGregor) leaves Anakin Skywalker (Christensen) to die on the banks of Mustafar, the volcanic planet, after defeating him in battle. Skywalker had turned on the Jedi and joined the Sith in that film, where he was later rescued by Emperor Palpatine and placed in the iconic suit and mask that would later become his iconic look as Darth Vader.
Vader didn't meet Obi-Wan again until A New Hope, set 20 years after the events of Revenge of the Sith. Kenobi, on a rescue mission to save Princess Leia alongside Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Chewbacca, separates from the group in order to turn off the tractor-beam on the Imperial cruiser. Vader is aboard the ship and at one point says, "I sense something. A presence I have not felt since..." and storms offscreen. When he later confronts Kenobi, he says, "The circle is now complete. When I left you I was but the learner, now I am the master," which suggests the last time both characters met was when Vader was left for dead on Mustafar. However, with the Obi-Wan Kenobi series coming up, that may not remain the case.
While talking to EW, McGregor and Christensen, both reprising their respective Star Wars roles as Obi-Wan and Darth Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi, commented on their characters' facing off yet again in Obi-Wan Kenobi, which is set 10 years after the events of Revenge of the Sith. The actors played coy, saying that "maybe" it changes the Vader line from A New Hope to a meeting after the events of Mustafar. Concept art from Obi-Wan Kenobi has already teased a lightsaber duel between the characters, but the actors wouldn't say for sure how that plays out. "It's fun," said McGregor, "It's very clever how all these threads are created. It's like working backwards and forwards at the same time for the writers and for Deborah [Chow]." Filling in that 20-year gap of Star Wars history was something the showrunners were "very mindful of" according to Chow, who said that it was an honor to take on George Lucas' legacy, and she wanted to be "respectful to what exists and not change anything" the Star Wars creator intended originally, but noted that there is room for interpretation, saying:
Obviously there is room for interpretation here. And telling [the story] that they did have these 20 years, and obviously something happened in these 20 years, and that there are some things from our series where there's going to be a little bit more room for interpretation on.
McGregor praised Chow's tenacity in crafting Obi-Wan Kenobi, making sure all the details fit, not just with the new show, but with everything that came before and after it. "For her, in the pre-production process, making all of that work and taking things that were said on the set in 1975 and trying to link it into what we said in 2003 and making it all work — it's a really interesting prospect, and they did such an amazing job with it," said McGregor. Star Wars has had a lot of back-and-forth with how details link up between the prequels, original trilogy, sequel trilogy, animated series, and now live-action series, making for a massive thread of details that are near-impossible to keep track of. While there are discrepancies between films, shows, books, and games, the mythos has operated under the watchful eye of Lucasfilm creators, who have steered the ship of interconnected stories, characters, locations and details exceptionally well over the last 40+ years across a myriad of mediums.
Vader's line in A New Hope always felt ambiguous and one that left audiences wondering about the history between both Kenobi and Vader prior to the film. The prequel trilogy answered a lot of those questions, but a 20-year gap leaves a lot of room to expand their history in ways viewers haven't explored yet. If anything, Vader and Kenobi meeting again prior to A New Hope and after Mustafar makes perfect sense, just as much of their stories post Revenge of the Sith have been explored in other mediums. Neither character was actually sitting on the sidelines doing nothing for that 20-year time period, so having them run into each other again is entirely plausible and doesn't particularly change Vader's line other than to make the last time he felt that "presence" a little bit earlier, potentially during the time of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on Disney+ on May 27, 2022.
Source: EW
