Last week fans began grumbling that despite all the hype about Hayden Christensen’s return, we were four episodes into Obi-Wan Kenobi and had only seen brief glimpses of him.
We got a glimpse of Christensen as Anakin in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it hallucination in the second episode, he’s played Vader in his Bacta tank, and some scenes in the armor. However, James Earl Jones is doing the voice (with a boost from ReSpeecher) and stunt performers are in the costume during any full-body shots.
The fifth episode changed all that, courtesy of an extensive flashback sequence to prequel-era Obi-Wan and Anakin sparring on Coruscant. Judging by the outfits and hairdos this takes place sometime after Attack of the Clones and fans are loving this trip back to a long, long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
For some this is just what they wanted from the show all along:
Others are praising Christensen and McGregor for picking up exactly where they left off:
And for prequels fans this moment means the world:
This fan might be taking things a little far, but we appreciate the sentiment:
The Obi-Wan Kenobi finale will air next week, and looks set to return to Tatooine and the young Luke. Star Wars canon has long held that the first Vader learned of Luke’s existence was between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, so the show will have to tread very carefully or risk retconning some of the most beloved movies in the world.
But we demand that Obi-Wan and Vader square off one more time, possibly with Anakin removing his helmet to show Obi-Wan what their fight on Mustafar did to him. Let’s hope Lucasfilm deliver the goods.
Obi-Wan Kenobi will conclude next Friday on Disney Plus.