Warning! Spoilers for Obi-Wan Kenobi “Part III” ahead!
Seriously, stop reading if you haven’t watched yet!
Fine. You’ve been warned.
Turns out Hayden Christensen isn’t the only actor returning to play Darth Vader in the Disney+ limited series.
Star Wars fans got a nice surprise when they tuned into the latest episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi and heard James Earl Jones, who returned to the franchise to once again provide the voice of the villainous Sith Lord. The reveal came in a scene opposite Moses Ingram’s Reva, the Empire’s ambitious new up and comer. As the Inquisitor gave Lord Vader an update on the search for Obi-Wan, Jones’ instantly recognizable voice chastised her, telling Reva that if she catches his former master, she will be the new Grand Inquisitor. However, if she fails, she “will not live to regret it.”
While Lucasfilm and Disney have been very open about Christensen reprising the role, Jones’ involvement had not been confirmed. Of course, fans hoped to hear the original voice of Vader, but since Jones is 91-years-old and has acted less lately, it wasn’t a guarantee. The last time he voiced the role was in a brief cameo in Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.
The team behind the series has been very secretive about what audiences can expect, so we don’t really know if we’ll hear Jones again, but it’s probably a safe assumption since Darth Vader is a crucial part of the story.
While Obi-Wan Kenobi has been a huge success for Disney+, delivering the streaming network’s biggest original series premiere ever, the show is not without controversy.
Ingram received racist threats from so-called “fans” who are upset about a Black woman playing a powerful character in their favorite fantasy world. The actress responded on Instagram saying in part, “I think the thing that bothers me…is this feeling I’ve had inside of myself, which no one has told me, but this feeling that I’ve got to just shut up and take it. I just kind of gotta grin and bear it, and I’m not built like that. I really just wanted to come on and say thank you to the people who show up for me in the comments and places I’m not going to put myself, and to the rest of y’all, y’all weird.”
Series star/executive producer Ewan McGregor posted a video supporting Moses saying, “I just want to say as the lead actor in the series, as the executive producer on the series, that we stand with Moses. We love Moses. And if you’re sending her bullying messages, you’re no Star Wars fan in my mind.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi is streaming on Disney+, with new episode available every Wednesday.