OBI-WAN KENOBI Writer Discusses Kenobi Learning The Fate of Anakin Skywalker
This article contains some spoilers for those of you who aren’t caught up.
In the second episode of Lucasfilm’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series, Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) learns the fate of his former apprentice Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen). It’s quite a dramatic moment and the news is delivered to him by the Inquisitor Reva (Moses Ingram), who is trying to take him down. She tells him, "You didn't know. He's alive, Obi-Wan. Anakin Skywalker is alive."
As you know, Kenobi left Anakin for dead after their lightsaber duel on the planet of Mustafar. He never saw him after that, and just assumed that he was dead.
Obi-Wan Kenobi writer Joby Harold recently sat down with The Wrap to talk about the series, and in that interview, he talked about what went into developing this big reveal to Kenobi. During the development of the series, Harold consulted with creative executive Pablo Hidalgo, who serves as Lucasfilm's Star Wars story advisor on Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was there to confirm what Obi-Wan knew, and what he didn't know was that Anakin was still alive a decade after they fought each other. Harold said:
"That was actually not something I pitched originally. That was something I discovered along the way, and sort of had to confirm with Pablo and really think, 'Hold on a second, what does he actually know? Does he know the moniker Vader? What would that mean? Can he associate the two? What was he cognizant of? How isolated is he? Where's Vader at that time? Where's his reputation and how well known is he?' and all those pieces of the puzzle."
Kenobi was quite disturbed and shocked to learn that Anakin was still alive, and then when he comes face to face with Darth Vader in Episode 3… Kenobi is feeling all kinds of emotions and fear. Harold when on to say:
"The great piece of storytelling you can use is getting to Ewan play the moment of realization that that which haunts him is still alive. And what does that mean for him? There were many avenues that I could take him down, all of which hopefully are good opportunities to tease our story as we continue. But it all comes down to, is it viable within canon to play that card? Which it was.
"Which is great, because that allows you, at the end of Episode 2 and the beginning of Episode 3, it gets you so much that feels essential to the fundamental story, which is Obi-Wan, Vader, that which haunts you, facing the past, everything that comes to fruition in [episode] 3 and beyond."
Before the series was released, we knew that Kenobi was going to learn about Anakin and that he would come face to face with Vader. We just didn’t know how that would all play out. This aspect of the series is what I was most excited about, and I’m curious and excited to see how this all continues to unfold.