Obi-Wan Kenobi Brings James Earl Jones Back as Darth Vader

SPOILERS for Obi-Wan Kenobi to follow…

Star Wars veteran James Earl Jones has been confirmed as the voice of Darth Vader in the ongoing Disney+ series, Obi-Wan Kenobi. The 91-year-old actor, who has voiced the Sith Lord since the franchise began with Star Wars: A New Hope way, way back in 1977, once again brings his powerful vocals to the character as he hunts down his former friend and mentor in the Star Wars series.

Jones made his triumphant return to the role during the latest episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi, with the actor’s distinct voice bringing the same level of intimidation and terror from behind the iconic mask of Darth Vader. While it has been known for some time that Star Wars prequel actor Hayden Christensen would reprise the role of Anakin Skywalker as well as suiting-up as Vader, it had not been revealed whether James Earl Jones would also return to voice the villain.

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Of course, it had been assumed that he would return and thus join the likes of original Star Wars star Mark Hamill in featuring in the Disney+ spinoff shows. But now we know for sure that we can all look forward to having our eardrums embraced by the mighty tones of Jones.

Reintroducing Darth Vader is not something that Obi-Wan Kenobi director Deborah Chow did lightly.

“Bringing back Vader [is] obviously something you don’t want to do lightly, and you don’t want to do it just for the sake of doing it,” she told TVLine recently, before explaining why she felt it was important for Vader to return and serve Obi-Wan’s story. “When we started really looking at Obi-Wan’s life and saying, ‘Who’s important in his life? What in his past has affected him?’ so much of that connects back to Anakin.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi is Now the Most Viewed Premiere on Disney+

Via Disney

Obi-Wan Kenobi picks up ten years after the events of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, in which the Jedi Order were destroyed by Order 66 and his former apprentice Anakin Skywalker became the Sith Lord Darth Vader. The exiled Jedi master is now watching over Vader’s son Luke Skywalker on Tatooine while in hiding and living a solitary life. But, his past has begun to catch up with him, as Darth Vader has set up the Sith Inquisitors program, a group of Dark Side Force users, to hunt down any Jedi who survived Order 66.

Star Wars fans have been waiting a long time to see an adventure centered on an exiled Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the viewing figures demonstrate just how highly anticipated the project is. Obi-Wan Kenobi is now the most-viewed Disney+ premiere of all time, beating out the likes of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, and Marvel shows such as Loki, WandaVision, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Directed by Deborah Chow, with Joby Harold serving as showrunner, Obi-Wan Kenobi stars Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse, each of whom will reprise their roles from previous Star Wars outings. The rest of the cast includes Moses Ingram, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, Kumail Nanjiani, Sung Kang, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Simone Kessell, Benny Safdie, Maya Erskine, Rory Ross, and Vivien Lyra Blair as a young Leia Organa.

The first three episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi are available now on Disney+. The series will run for six episodes, concluding on June 22.

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