Broadway favorite James Earl Jones has returned to the Star Wars universe to voice Darth Vader in the Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series. He made his debut in Episode 3 in a holo-conference with Reva, the Inquisitor (Moses Ingram).
The Disney+ series is set a decade after 2005’s Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. The show also marks the return of Ewan McGregor in the titular role, and actor Hayden Christensen physically plays Darth Vader. The two last collaborated for the Star Wars prequel trilogy with Christensen playing Anakin Skywalker before his transformation into the Sith Lord. Jones joining the ranks of Obi-Wan Kenobi further adds to its illustrious cast.
The 91-year-old has been voicing Lord Vader since 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, continuing with The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, up till as recently as the sequel trilogy’s The Rise of Skywalker. Series director Deborah Chow previously told TVLine, “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.” Elaborating further on how Anakin and Vader’s presence organically adds to the story and the history of Obi-Wan she said, “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.”
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
With his return, Jones is joining the league of classic Star Wars actors like Mark Hamill who recently returned to the silver screen as Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian. Along with voicing Vader, Jones has had an illustrious Broadway career. He bagged a Tony Award for The Great White Hope and Fences. In 2017, he received a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award. He last appeared on Broadway in the revival of D.L. Coburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, The Gin Game with Cicely Tyson.
Along with McGregor, Jones, Ingram, and Christensen the Obi-Wan Kenobi cast includes Rupert Friend as The Inquisitor, Joel Edgerton reprising the role of Owen Lars, Indira Varma as Tia, Kumail Nanjiani as Haja, Vivien Lyra Blair as Leia Organa, Bonnie Piesse as Beru Lars, Grant Feely as Luke Skywalker, Marisé Alvarez as Nyche, and Rya Kihlstedt as La.
Obi-Wan Keonbi’s Episode 4 is set to air on Wednesday, June 8. You can read the synopsis for the series down below.
The story begins 10 years after the dramatic events of ‘Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith’ where Kenobi faced his greatest defeat: the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, turned evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.
Read Next
About The Author
