Fans are over the moon to see Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker back together on screen. Still, another duo makes an appearance that fans will be raving about also the return of Luke and Leia.
It’s been ten years since Obi-Wan separated the twins after the death of Padme. Luke is safe on Tatooine with his Uncle Owen pretending to drive pod racers like his father. Owen makes it clear that he wants Ben to leave them alone, so Luke doesn’t end up like Anakin. A blow to Obi-Wan’s spirit as he struggles with the ways he feels he failed Anakin.
The cunning Leia Organa is causing mischief for her family on Alderaan. Child star Vivien Lyra Blair (Bird Box, We Can Be Heroes) plays Leia and showcases the fierce spirit of her mother Padme and the strong will of Anakin. Not only do we get to see the start of the rebellion and aspects of Leia, Princess of Alderaan, but we also get to see Leia building trust with Obi-Wan, which plays an important role in her relationship with him and why she reaches back out during A New Hope.
It’s clear that you have to build trust with Leia. Her character has always been stubborn and self-confident. It’s one of the reasons she is so loved. Blair really captures her spirit.
Seeing the struggles that Obi-Wan has mentally gone through over the past ten years that have passed since he left Anakin to die on Mustafar makes this series so special, and I’m sure it will do the same in Ahsoka. Both of these characters loved Anakin dearly and knew him better than anyone (still alive if you don’t count Padme). These two characters have always known that there is good in him even when others shed doubt. I’m hoping that Ahsoka makes a brief cameo in Obi-Wan Kenobi just as she did in The Mandalorian and Boba Fett. Fans of Clone Wars are anxious to fill in the blanks from this time period.
“We just started with this idea that he was broken,” Ewan McGregor says. “He was a man broken by the experience of Order 66 and the fact that he’d lost his faith. I thought it was interesting to take him into a darker place and then over the course of the series, see how he finds his faith again and gets back to being the Obi-Wan that we knew and loved.”
McGregor stepped right back into the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi and was thrilled to do so when he realized that a younger generation of fans that loved the prequels helped bridge the gap from the disconnected fans of the original trilogy. As someone that was introduced to Star Wars through the prequels and Ewok Adventures, Ewan McGregor has always been my vision of Obi-Wan Kenobi. He is the one that shaped the character and gave him depth. The series will continue to do that to bridge the prequels Kenobi with the trilogy Kenobi that Sir Alec Guinness brought to life.
“It was just interesting to take a character that we know and love from Alec Guinness’s, creation of the character in the 70s this wise sage-like, spiritual man and then the work that I did in Episode 1 thru 3, from the Padawan, from the student to the Jedi, to somebody who’s sitting on the Jedi Council,” McGregor says. “To take that Obi-Wan and take him to this more sort of broken place was really interesting to do.”
The first two episodes are now streaming on Disney+. The series is limited so get your Obi-Wan fix in and cherish every second of it.
“Obi-Wan Kenobi” begins ten years after the dramatic events of “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” where Obi-Wan Kenobi faced his greatest 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.
