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The newfound appreciation for the Star Wars prequel trilogy is really one thing to behold. Critically panned and deemed franchise-tainting upon their authentic releases, Episodes I,II, and III have slowly turn into crowd-pleasers during the last 16 years, ones that now elicit large applause at conventions. The web is rife with reconsiderations of those movies, particularly following the newest set of Star Wars trilogies and facet tales. It’s an sudden, however well-deserved, change of tempo.
No surprise, then, that the return of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi in—prepare for it—Obi-Wan Kenobi is one essentially the most anticipated Star Wars initiatives within the final decade. The brand new Disney+ present marks the primary time McGregor has appeared on-screen because the legendary Jedi since Episode III. For the character, whose final destiny we now have lengthy identified, to come back again for a brand new story is one thing that followers again in 2005 by no means anticipated would occur.
And McGregor isn’t the one acquainted forged member coming again for the present. He’s joined by Hayden Christensen, a.ok.a. Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. Christensen earned a hefty load of criticism for his angsty Anakin portrayal upon getting into the collection in Episode II. However he’s now held in comparatively excessive esteem by Star Wars prequel followers—and nonetheless, it’s thrilling to see the actor get to take one of the crucial well-known characters in historical past for one more spin.
McGregor and Christensen’s on-screen reunion as Star Wars’ most iconic frenemies is purpose sufficient for Kenobi to look like an computerized slam dunk. It follows a straightforward and apparent system of a much-loved hero performed by his authentic, equally beloved actor, in a setting that brings good ol’ (and really highly effective) nostalgia for a majority of followers.
However what in case you’re excited to observe however not obsessive about the prequel motion pictures? Or maybe you simply want a brand new present to observe on Disney+? Or possibly you haven’t seen the huge catalog of Star Wars content material that includes Obi-Wan or that’s in any other case useful to grasp this time interval in a galaxy far, distant? Regardless of which potential Kenobi viewer you're, we’ve rounded up the highest issues you have to know as you dive into it.
Kenobi takes place on the mid-way level between Episode III and Episode IV
On the finish of Episode III, a.ok.a. Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan left a murderous, Darkish Aspect-aligned Anakin ablaze on Mustafar and introduced Luke Skywalker to his step-family on Tattooine for safekeeping. That film got here out in Could 2005, which is strictly 17 years in the past.
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However, in keeping with the official Star Wars website, the collection will happen not 17 years later, however a decade after the autumn of the Republic and Anakin’s fateful flip to Darth Vader. To place that in nerd-speak, Kenobi is ready to happen across the 12 months 9 BBY, since Revenge of the Sith is in 19 BBY. A New Hope, the fourth Star Wars movie (and ultimate look of Obi-Wan Kenobi as a personality), takes place 9 years later, in 0 BBY/ABY.
The plot really sounds fairly simple … for now
Disney’s official logline for Kenobi emphasizes that Obi-Wan remains to be coping with the results and trauma of surviving the Jedi Purge (aka Order 66). As one of many solely Jedi to make it out alive, there’s not lots of people who he can relate to proper now. To not point out he needed to combat his former padawan and the man who’s as shut as he has to a brother, Anakin “Darth Vader” Skywalker.
In an interview with Vainness Honestin regards to the collection earlier this month, director Deborah Chow teased that Kenobi can be extra akin to a character-forward drama, versus action-focused.
“I actually tried to take a look at it as a personality story,” she stated. “Who's essential to this character? Who has been essential in his previous, and can be in his future?”
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The obvious, fast reply to these questions is our boy Anakin. His return can be important to Kenobi’s, and Kenobi’s, general arc.
As for the finer particulars in between all this, what it means, and the place it leaves Obi-Wan and Anakin off on the finish—properly, that’s for the six-episode collection to fill in for us.
Obi-Wan’s contending with unhealthy guys past simply Darth Vader
For anybody leaping into Kenobi after solely seeing the Star Wars motion pictures, the looks of darkish, foreboding figures with pink lightsabers may be a complete shock or completely complicated. You see them within the trailer, however you may not know that they’re known as Inquisitors in case you didn’t already go look them up.
These Purple Blades are very well-known foes throughout the Star Wars canon, significantly to those that have watched the Disney+ animated collection Star Wars: Rebels. Darth Sidious, ever the planner, established the Inquisitorius, which was a program that educated Pressure-sensitive people to seek out any remaining Jedi. The objective was that straggling survivors of Order 66 could be slain, making the Jedi go utterly extinct.
Sidious, with the assistance of Cad Bane (the blue outlaw that confirmed up in The E-book of Boba Fett, however who's a fan-favorite from The Clone Wars), took Pressure-sensitive youngsters earlier than the Jedi may and educated them to do that activity, together with gathering up some other enemies of the Empire. That is why they've pink lightsabers—as a result of they'll wield the Pressure however are additionally unhealthy guys. (Darth Vader has a pink lightsaber too, it's possible you'll recall.)
Regardless that Darth Sidious deliberate this all out, Darth Vader was the one which ended up in command of operating the Inquisitorius. This, after all, might be a method to join Kenobi and his former Padawan, if the Inquisitors get shut sufficient to discovering him.
As for why they’re not round throughout A New Hope and onward, except for the apparent proven fact that they didn’t exist but within the established canon, as soon as the Galactic Civil Conflict got here round (the warfare that's ongoing by Episode VI), Sidious felt that almost all of Jedi have been gone, and there was no extra want for Inquisitors.
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There’s all the time an opportunity that Star Wars’ reunion with Obi-Wan may fiddle with beforehand established storytelling
OK, with Kenobi and Vader certain to reunite and have one more duel for the ages, how does this match into the movies and reveals that exist already after this time interval? Will this retcon issues?
We aren’t but positive how Obi-Wan Kenobi’s years within the desert are going to suit into this lacking portion of his life. Nonetheless, when Obi-Wan and Darth Vader face off in Episode IV, viewers have been made to imagine that it was their first encounter since Anakin broke unhealthy. In case you’re a staunch defender of this studying, then the inevitable reunion between the 2 in Kenobi may not be to your liking.
Nonetheless, you will need to word that, except for Vader saying to Kenobi that they “meet once more, finally,” and that the final time Obi-Wan noticed Vader, the Sith Lord was “however a learner,” Episode IV fairly imprecise on when the “final time” they noticed one another really was. Vader additionally tells Kenobi that he “mustn't have come again,” as an example. Come again the place, Vader?! The truth that they’re on the Demise Star may insinuate a showdown on stated house station in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
However, after all, George Lucas couldn’t have predicted in 1977 that Star Wars would turn into what it has turn into in the present day. And contemplating that reality, it may be greatest to not get too invested in seemingly concrete canon timelines till they’re totally solidified—Star Wars followers have been burned earlier than.
With six hour-long episodes within the combine for the miniseries, Kenobi’s destiny will turn into clear ahead of we could even be prepared for.