Lucasfilm was originally developing Obi-Wan Kenobi as a movie (and possibly even a trilogy), but plans changed, and it became a Disney+ TV series instead. Now, original writer Stuart Beattie has revealed how his ideas differed from what we saw on the streaming service.
Talking to The Direct (via SFFGazette.com), Beattie confirmed that Reva was a character he created, though his version wasn't aware that Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader were one and the same. That was a key plot point in the show, as the Sith Inquisitor had spent years plotting her revenge and even revealed to Obi-Wan that his former Padawan was still alive.
"All she saw was Anakin as Anakin. Anakin killed her friends, put the scar on her, almost killed her [and] left her for dead," the writer explains. "So, in her mind, the Jedi Council were the biggest villains in the galaxy. She believed the lies that they were plotting a coup to overtake and get power and all that, but they were stopped by the Clones. She believed that's why she's hunting Jedi, because she believed the Jedi are the worst."
Over the course of this version of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Beattie says the Jedi Master would have told Reva the truth about Vader, leading to her realising she had spent years serving the man who tried to kill her as a child. As a result, "She saved Kenobi by sacrificing herself, telling Vader, 'I killed Kenobi.' And then Vader killed her, [with her] knowing that Vader would kill her."
"I wanted her story to end. At the end, she was the one that basically told Vader to stop hunting Kenobi. She ended the obsession Vader had with Kenobi," he continues. "She claimed it was over, it's done. And she'd done so many terrible things, I felt she had to die [Laughs]. You can only redeem so much."
The writer went on to confirm that Reva was there to give Obi-Wan someone to defeat and save, though the TV show arguably gave her a little more urgency. Beattie also noted that he didn't have any other Sith Inquisitors in his version of this story, with the spotlight solely on Reva (which might not have been a bad thing given what a non-factor The Grand Inquisitor proved to be).
These comments explain plot leaks which reported that Vader killed Reva when she returned claiming to have killed Obi-Wan, and it's always fun to hear what might have been. Whether this ending is better or worse is up for debate, but the character is currently alive and well and likely to return at some point in the not too distant future.
All six episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi are currently streaming on Disney+.