Obi-Wan Kenobi series writer breaks down fiery Darth Vader duel

SPOILERS for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. Consider yourself warned. After years of rumour and speculation, we’re now halfway through the Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+. Featuring the long-awaited return of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, the series also includes a few more blasts from the past, such as Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader. While speaking with Vanity Fair, Obi-Wan Kenobi writer Joby Harold broke down the return of Darth Vader and the build up to his fiery duel with his former master.

The third episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi brought Anakin Skywalker and his former master together for the first time since the events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. While attempting to get young Leia Organa back to her father, Obi-Wan Kenobi is confronted by Darth Vader and his inquisitors. In an attempt to lure Kenobi out, Darth Vader walks down the street of a mining village striking down innocents. “We’ve established the language: the Jedi hunt themselves—because they cannot stand by and watch innocents be killed,” Joby Harold told Vanity Fair. “So Vader is very cognizant of what he’s doing as he’s walking down that street. The horror of the moment has an emotional weight because it’s calculated.” Joby Harold said that they wanted to see Vader fully unleashed, with all his rage and hatred on full display.

It was a thousand percent the intention. From a Vader point of view, we’re all living with the memory of the end of Rogue One, and how effective that was. It was very gratifying to see Vader finally be unleashed in a sequence like that, so we wanted to try to trump it if we could. It was a lot more extreme, at one point.

Harold added that the scene was initially “a lot more extreme” but that he “got pulled back a little on that.” When Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi finally do face each other in a duel, the Dark Lord easily dominates the battle and ends it by trying to burn Kenobi alive. “His choice is revealing the character beneath and the torture beneath—the pain inflicted and the eye-for-an-eye of it all,” Harold explained. “It’s a chance to hint at something beneath the mask. Vader can’t be talking about, you know, his feelings. So it has to be in action. That comes from dragging people down the street behind you to try to pull the Jedi out of hiding, and that comes in inflicting the same pain upon the Jedi that he did to you. It’s awful, but he should be awful. He’s Darth Vader.“

The Obi-Wan Kenobi series begins 10 years after the dramatic events of Revenge of the Sith where Obi-Wan Kenobi faced his greatest defeat—the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side as the evil Sith Lord Darth Vader. The first three episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi are now streaming on Disney+. Check out a review from our own Alex Maidy right here.