Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi will "rematch" in the Disney Plus series

A still from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
(Image credit: LucasFilm)

There's been a lot of Star Wars news these past few hours. LucasFilm revealed that there are multiple new Disney Plus shows in the works, plus Patty Jenkins will direct a feature-length movie due for cinemas in 2023. 

The news that really had fans talking, though, was the return of Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader in the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series. The actor recently voiced the character in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker but has not appeared on-screen as Vader since Revenge of the Sith in 2005. 

Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy promised that the pair will have the "rematch of the century" while writer Deborah Chow said: "We will definitely see Obi-Wan and Darth Vader get into it again."

Some behind-the-scenes footage was shown to investors and select members of the media, and it saw Ewan McGregor tease his return as Obi-Wan. The fans have been waiting long enough," he said, with Chow adding: "This is quite a dark time that we're coming into with him, just being a Jedi – it's not safe. There's Jedi hunters out there."

Concept art reportedly showed Darth Vader marching towards a Jedi who is defending three younglings. And as we all know, Ani hates younglings.

 "[Kenobi] has this one task left," McGregor said (via ComicBook.com), "which is to keep Luke safe... We start on Tatooine, and we go on a rollicking adventure."

"The most beautiful thing of all is that it's brought me back together with Hayden," he added. "It'll be amazing to bring those characters back together again, very unexpectedly. Having another swing at each other might be quite satisfying for everybody. We hope that you enjoy it as much as we're going to enjoy making it."

Christensen did not appear in the presentation but said in a statement: “It was such an incredible journey playing Anakin Skywalker. Of course, Anakin and Obi-Wan weren’t on the greatest of terms when we last saw them… It will be interesting to see what an amazing director like Deborah Chow has in store for us all. I’m excited to work with Ewan again. It feels good to be back.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi pre-production is also ramping up. McGregor recently revealed that he donned Obi-Wan's costume while on the set of The Mandalorian. For more on a galaxy far, far away, check out our guide to the upcoming Star Wars movies on the way. There are a lot.

Jack Shepherd
Freelance Journalist

Jack Shepherd is the former Senior Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar. Jack used to work at The Independent as a general culture writer before specializing in TV and film for the likes of GR+, Total Film, SFX, and others. You can now find Jack working as a freelance journalist and editor.