May the Darth be with you. To celebrate Star Wars Day, Lucasfilm dropped a teasing glimpse of Hayden Christensen’s return as Jedi warrior-turned-Sith Lord in the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series. Premiering May 27 on Disney+, the six-episode serial reunites Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker with his former teacher, Ewan McGregror’s General Kenobi, for the first time since their epic battle on Mustafar in the climax of 2005’s Revenge of the Sith. And unlike their last encounter, Vader appears to have the high ground. (Watch the new trailer above.)
The previously released first trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi clearly laid out the stakes for the show: picking up a decade after the events of George Lucas’s prequel trilogy, Obi-Wan is hiding out in the Tatooine desert, observing Anakin’s son, Luke, from afar. But his whereabouts won’t stay secret for long. The Jedi-hunter Inquisitor Reva (Moses Ingram) — who has a personal connection to Vader — is on his trail, and won’t rest until she orchestrates a reunion between the former allies.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Christensen said it was “amazing” to step back into Vader’s frosty armor. “It was mostly a lot of excitement because I had spent enough time with this character and felt like I knew him, and coming back to it felt very natural in a lot of ways. And I was just really excited to get to come in and play Darth Vader at this point in the timeline because it did feel like a natural continuation of your journey with the character. And that was very meaningful for me.”
Besides featuring our first look at Christensen in his Darth Vader get-up (at least the chest plate anyway), the latest teaser also provides a glimpse of Kumail Nanjiani’s franchise debut and a dramatic encounter between Obi-Wan and Luke’s uncle Owen Lars, played by returning prequel player, Joel Edgerton. “When the time comes, he must be trained,” Kenobi insists to Lars. “Like you trained his father?” Owen shoots back. Ouch … that burn will leave a mark.
While Christensen’s performance in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith may have made like sand and irritated moviegoers at the time, his absence from the galaxy has clearly made the heart grow fonder. The Star Wars Twitter timeline is filled with fans praising Lord Vader like they should.
love the way Darth Vader looms over this entire trailer
extremely excited to see Hayden Christensen get a chance to wipe the slate clean in Star Wars with better dialogue than bad metaphors about sand https://t.co/yWDsDtlpns
— Joon Lee (@joonlee) May 4, 2022
Hearing Vader’s breathing at the end of the Kenobi trailer is when it really hit me we are getting HAYDEN Christensen as Darth Vader again. I’m emotional
— isa andor ???????????? (@jyndjarin) May 4, 2022
I will be having a meltdown after seeing Hayden Christensen playing Anakin Skywalker again after all these years
— Abby #BLM ???????????? (@64Fourtris) May 4, 2022
Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres May 27 on Disney+
