Will James Earl Jones Voice Darth Vader in Disney Plus’s ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’?
I need more Darth Vader in my life!
With Obi-Wan Kenobi coming out on Disney Plus on May 25, Ewan McGregor’s reprisal of his classic portrayal of the Jedi master is coming up fast. Now that we know Darth Vader will be in the series, fans are wondering who will voice him. Will James Earl Jones step back into the role?
Obi-Wan Kenobi, a six-episode limited series, will explore the period between the Star Wars prequels and the original trilogy. Set 10 years after Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan Kenobi will see Obi-Wan settle into a life in hiding on Tatooine, secretly watching over a young Luke Skywalker while the Empire scours the galaxy, hunting down Jedi. Written by Joby Harold and directed by Deborah Chow, the series promises to show Obi-Wan struggling to find hope after the crushing defeat that led to the creation of the Empire and the destruction of the Jedi.
Most excitingly, it looks like the series will explore Obi-Wan’s continuing relationship with Anakin Skywalker, his former apprentice turned Sith Lord, and give us the rematch we’ve been craving ever since Revenge of the Sith.
Darth Vader is coming!
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, McGregor says that in the new series, “Obi-Wan is lost…He’s a broken man after what happened with the Jedi order at the end of Episode III, but also what happened with Anakin; that he lost him to the dark side. He feels an enormous amount of responsibility for that, and guilt.”
Given such high emotional stakes, not to mention the fact that in the show’s timeframe within the Star Wars universe, Darth Vader’s career as a villain is on the rise, it only makes sense that Vader himself would make an appearance.
However, the only actor playing Vader that we know of so far is Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin in the prequels. That choice makes sense, of course, since it was Christensen and McGregor who originally faced off in the prequels, instead of Sir Alec Guinness and James Earl Jones (with David Prowse in the Vader suit), who starred in the original trilogy. In the EW feature, Harold says that “It was so important to have Hayden be a part of this project because he is such a massive part of that character…It was a priority to all of us that we did it with as much care as possible, so as to honor one of the greatest villains and antagonists in the history of entertainment.”
Will James Earl Jones—his voice, at least—make an appearance, too? At this point, it’s impossible to say. On the one hand, it might be strange to have two different actors voicing him in the same series. On the other hand, he has returned to voice a couple of Star Wars projects since the original trilogy, and the new series could conceivably feature a flash-forward or other time jump. We’ll find out for sure when the series streams in May!
(image: Disney)
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