'Kenobi' "A Lot More Extreme," Disney Tones Down 'Star Wars' - Inside the Magic

The latest episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi featuring the brutality of Darth Vader shocked every Star Wars fan for various reasons, but the deadly walk of the Sith Lord was originally “a lot more extreme.”

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Obi-Wan Kenobi has faced historic backlash and online hate following the controversial episode three which featured the shockingly brutal murders of innocent Mapoza farmers at the hands of Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen).

Fans were also taken back after discovering that Hayden Christensen wasn’t under Vader’s suit during full body shots, nor was James Earl Jones voicing new lines for the Sith Lord.

Nonetheless, Kenobi head writer Joby Harold just revealed that he got “pulled back” by Lucasfilm when penning Vader’s anger and rage towards innocent bystanders:

“It was a thousand percent the intention. From a Vader point of view, we’re all living with the memory of the end of Rogue One, and how effective that was. It was very gratifying to see Vader finally be unleashed in a sequence like that, so we wanted to try to trump it if we could. It was a lot more extreme, at one point.”

“I got pulled back a little bit on that. It was so important to define Vader’s anger and rage. There’s an emotionality to the choices he’s making that are a little further than we’re used to seeing with Vader. He’s pushed a little more than the Vader we know. Obi-Wan isn’t the finished article before [the original Star Wars], and we can look at Vader in the same way. “

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Harold continues:

“He is emotionally invested in that hunt to the same degree that Obi-Wan’s emotionally invested in running away. What a tremendous vehicle to try to articulate rage when you have Darth Vader on the board and you have that silhouette. It is a scary sequence, but it was entirely by design and it had to be because everyone’s running from something that’s terrifying.”

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The intentions of Vader at this point in the Skywalker saga are nothing but dark. Driven by anger and unhinged hatred towards his old Jedi Master, Darth Vader will stop at nothing to make Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) suffer.

Much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Lucasfilm is pushing its boundaries of “family friendly” content and violence, recently featuring a stormtrooper sliced in half by a laser gate in the latest Kenobi episode.

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Though the internet continues to nitpick the rematch between Kenobi and Vader and why the Sith Lord didn’t pursue the Ben Kenobi drifter at the end of episode three, Darth Vader’s live-action brutality has proven one of the most shocking and impressive sequences in recent Star Wars history, proving Disney can honor canon.

More about Obi-Wan Kenobi

The story begins ten years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, where Obi-Wan Kenobi faced his most significant defeat—the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side as evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.

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“The rematch of the century” teased by Kathleen Kennedy, director Deborah Chow, and Lucasfilm will be supported by Moses Ingram (Inquisitor Reva), Joel Edgerton (Uncle Owen), Bonnie Piesse (Beru Lars), Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, and Benny Safdie.

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The world of George Lucas is expanding beyond Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Darth Vader (James Earl Jones), Jedi Master Yoda (Frank Oz), Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein), Darth Maul (Ray Parker), Anakin Skywalker (Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch/Temura Morrison), Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), Grogu (AKA “Baby Yoda”), Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff), Koska Reeves (Sasha Banks), Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), and Moff Gideon’s (Giancarlo Esposito) the Millennium Falcon, the Death Star, and The Clone Wars.

Within the Star Wars franchise, Lucasfilm is moving past Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) or the controversial Rian Johnson Star Wars film The Last Jedi (2018) as we dive into the Old Republic or explore new realities of the Star Wars universe with each new TV show or the upcoming Star Wars game like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2 or Star Wars Eclipse.

Should Star Wars become more “extreme” or remain the way it is? Comment below!