The thrilling finale of Rogue One, a memorable moment that saw Darth Vader truly unleashed for the first time in live action, influenced a key sequence in Obi-Wan Kenobi, and writer Joby Harold touches on this and more.
EW: It was super cool. And speaking of super cool, I called the scene with Vader in the town in episode 3 your Rogue One scene because it had that spine-chilling feel to it. Was the end of Rogue One a reference point for you all in terms of re-establishing this guy as the ultimate badass?
JH: Yeah. At the end of Rogue One, it’s wonderful. I think it’s a terrific scene and a scene that I love. And we got to take him out of a corridor, into a village. But still the point of the scene in episode 3 is to sense that there’s a little bit of Anakin under there, because it is a little bit personal. It’s not just rage and it’s not just the professional ruthlessness of Vader. He knows Obi-Wan is nearby and he’s doing what’s necessary to try to lure him out. And that is part of the conversation of the show. It’s Obi-Wan and Vader. It’s Obi-Wan being haunted by that thing that’s coming down the street, and it should be scary.
EW: I always assumed Obi-Wan and Vader would not fight each other until the finale, that it would all be leading up to that. Was having them meet in episode 3 always the plan, or how did you get to that decision to have them meet up much sooner?
JH: As a creative idea it’s something that had been knocked around for a while within the team, if memory serves. And I think where it becomes interesting is, because you are anticipating the heavyweight fight at the end, to suddenly have this thing happening in the middle is you’re just not ready for it, and neither is everyone. And if you’re not quite ready for it as an audience, you’re in the shoes of the character who’s not quite ready for it as a Jedi. And that is hopefully a good example of structure and character meeting in a way that the hopefully plays well for the audience.
EW: James Earl Jones is credited with the Vader voice, but did he actually record any of the new lines or is it all Respeecher technology?
JH: That’s on the part of production. That was with [Obi-Wan director Deborah Chow]. But the legacy of his voice is so extraordinary that when you do see the dailies and you’re imagining what the voice is going to sound like, and then you see those two things put together and it’s so dramatic, that juxtaposition. And it speaks to the original trilogy, which is very much the tonal inspiration of the show, to try to find that feeling of majestic, mythic, patient, grounded. That tone’s hard to get to, and Vader and James Earl Jones’ voice is such a specific part of that, that it was pretty amazing to hear it again.
Mark Mulcaster had the good fortune to chat with the team behind Respeecher on Episode 108 of Making Tracks, which you can listen to below.
