Our work on Obi-wan Kenobi

The Wētā FX team played a small but exciting role in Obi-Wan Kenobi, creating the VFX for a narrow escape. 

In a classic decoy move—exploiting the hubris of his former apprentice—Obi-Wan has plotted a daring departure. Darth Vader wields the Force like never before to bring the transport ship crashing to the ground, only to discover it’s empty, and Obi-wan, Leia and the cornered freedom fighters have escaped in another ship.

The scene was shot on a fully dressed set, which our artists augmented with the addition of CG set extensions, atmospherics, and matte paintings. The ship is CG, as are the destruction FX when Vader rips it open in search of his old Jedi Master.

Vader also engages in lightsaber combat with Third Sister. On set, the actors used light-up props for the lightsabers, so we had a significant amount of limb replacement and animation work to do for the fight. When Reva’s lightsaber turns out to be a two-bladed weapon with spinning ability, some digital double work for the character was also needed to accomplish the lightsaber movements along with some subtle FX work to achieve the right effect for the iconic weapons.