It's been widely assumed that Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader never crossed paths between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. However, dialogue in the latter certainly left room for interpretation, and the Jedi Master's upcoming Disney+ series looks set to feature not one, but two rematches if recent rumours are to be believed.
The Mandalorian director Deborah Chow will helm all six episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Entertainment Weekly recently had the opportunity to speak to the filmmaker about Vader's return.
Asked why she decided to include the iconic Sith Lord in the show, Chow explained that the biggest advantage of a limited series is getting the chance to tell a character story. As a result, there was room to explore the importance of Vader in Obi-Wan's life in the aftermath of Revenge of the Sith.
"It came out of an evolution of the character for me. It wasn't just to sort of bring him back. It was really like, who means something and where are we at this point in the timeline with Vader?"
"For us, it's very similar [to Obi-Wan] in the sense that he's in between these two trilogies. So he isn't the New Hope Vader quite yet. So we are with the character sort of in the middle of this period. It is still Vader obviously, but it's a Vader that isn't quite as fully formed as A New Hope."
We're intrigued by what exactly that means, but would bet on Vader not being quite the cool customer he was when Obi-Wan challenged him to that duel on the Death Star. By that point, the Sith Lord had seemingly become more confident in his abilities, likely because he'd moved on from his hatred for Obi-Wan due to having grander ambitions for the Galaxy.
More will be revealed when Obi-Wan Kenobi arrives on Disney+ on May 25.