While it now seems obvious that Obi-Wan Kenobi could not revisit the story of the Jedi Master between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope without featuring Darth Vader, it was not a foregone conclusion that the Sith Lord would appear in the new Disney+ series. As a new in-depth article in Vanity Fair has revealed, it was almost certain at one point that Darth Vader would not be part of the show, and it was only after several discussions and some heavy championing by director Deborah Chow that Hayden Christensen’s return to the Star Wars Universe was agreed.

When Obi-Wan Kenobi’s original plan for a Star Wars movie was put into development, Darth Vader was not going to be the antagonist of the story. As it became clear that the film would not be going ahead and the discussion around a TV show replacing it took shape, with Chow taking over directorial duties, there was still no sign of Kenobi’s former student in the story at that time. It seems that main reason for this, was that no one knew whether the introduction of Vader to the story would detract from the pair’s next meeting in Star Wars. As executive producer Michelle Rejwan said:

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Even when Chow personally visited Hayden Christensen in 2019 to ask if he would return to the franchise, it was in no way certain that Vader would make an appearance in Obi-Wan Kenobi, and it was not until March 2020, with Chow now in the role of showrunner, that the pieces finally fell into place and Vader’s return was set for the series.

“We have these what-if conversations 24/7. It’s fun to, in your head, peruse the Star Wars toy store. ‘Oh, we could have this character, or feature that ship.’ But at the end of the day, we really need to keep it pure about why.”

Deborah Chow Had a Specific Reason for Bringing Back Darth Vader

     Lucasfilm

While many have their ideas about the reason for the rematch between Kenobi and Vader, Deborah Chow’s perspective on why it was essential to have the pair meet each other again in the series was probably different than many fans thought. She explained:

Of course, everyone wants to see Kenobi and Vader face each other once again, and for that reason it is likely that we will not see their clash until the finale of the series. In the meantime, there is a lot of story to be told over the five episodes that precede it, and while we will probably see and feel Vader’s presence over the whole show, their epic clash is all that is going to matter at the end of it.

“For me, across the prequels, through the original trilogy, there’s a love-story dynamic with these two that goes through the whole thing. I felt like it was quite hard to not [include] the person who left Kenobi in such anguish in the series. I don’t think he ever will not care about him. What’s special about that relationship is that they loved each other.”