Everything we know about Obi-Wan Kenobi (and, um, don’t)
As Ewan McGregor is set to return in the Disney Plus series, let's parse out what to expect in this galaxy far, far away
TV Features Obi-Wan Kenobi
Assuming you don’t count his cameos in the sequels, it’s been 17 years since Ewan McGregor took up the mantle of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. The (famously divisive) Star Wars prequels saw McGregor color in the larger-than-life outline left by the late Alec Guinness, who played Leia’s iconic “only hope” in the original trilogy. Obi-Wan’s ill-fated efforts to train the Force-sensitive Anakin saw McGregor’s younger version of the character soar. He was charming, but sincere; dashing, but discerning; a true Jedi hero as wisely quotable as he was indisputably badass. Anyway, now he’s on Disney+.
Look, it’s not that we aren’t excited for Obi-Wan Kenobi; it’s freakin’ Obi-Wan Kenobi, finally filling in what happened in the 19 years between Revenge Of The Sith and A New Hope. We’re plenty excited. But without all six episodes in our greedy little queues right now, we’re left in the frustrating position Star Wars fans so often are: knowing sort of a lot, but also not nearly enough about a story we’d been waiting years to see even before the pandemic hit. Like you, we’re very ready for answers, and if that means broodily stewing over context clues until the first two episodes hit [checks notes] May 27 at 3 a.m. ET, so be it.
Directed by Deborah Chow, the new limited series sets up Obi-Wan Kenobi and his former Padawan Anakin, now Darth Vader, to battle in a face-off that won’t change what happens in the Skywalker saga, but could imbue it with new meaning by integrating other parts of the Star Wars universe. Here’s everything we know about where Obi-Wan Kenobi fits into that famed galaxy far, far away.
When do the events of Obi-Wan Kenobi take place?
Disney’s official description for Obi-Wan Kenobi is laughably opaque, but at least it gives us a fixed timeline:
“Obi-Wan Kenobi begins 10 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.”
Set in 9 BBY (that’s “Before The Battle Of Yavin,” which takes place during A New Hope), Obi-Wan’s standalone series introduces the Jedi Knight after his failure with Anakin at the end of Revenge Of The Sith (19 BBY), but before he and Luke Skywalker team up with Han Solo in A New Hope (0 BBY).
This makes Obi-Wan about 48 years old and his eventual prodigy Luke roughly 10 during Obi-Wan Kenobi. So Luke is living on Tatooine and Obi-Wan is self-exiled there, still hiding from the reach of “Order 66"—which deemed all Jedi enemies of the Republic and sentenced them to death at the end of Revenge Of The Sith. Meanwhile, Darth Vader, just thriving at 32, is still serving Sith Lord Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine. He hasn’t met his son.
What’s the main plot of Obi-Wan Kenobi?
As with all great Star Wars adventures, it seems Disney+’s new series is destined to feature lots of running, murder attempts, and running away from murder attempts. But aside from that, we’re pretty much in the dark on plot.
The trailer shows Obi-Wan visiting Owen Lars (Joel Edgerton), the farmer tasked with raising Anakin’s son by the Jedi, telling him, “When the time comes, he must be trained.” Uncle Owen retorts, “Like you trained his father?” It’s an appropriately nonplussed reception—partly because Obi-Wan’s last teaching gig went so badly but also because he and Luke can’t meet yet.
Away from Luke, Obi-Wan Kenobi centers on Vader’s continued hunt for his former Jedi Master. “I want every bounty hunter and lowlife to squeeze him,” hisses new character Reva (Moses Ingram) aka “The Third Sister,” an Inquisitor for the Galactic Republic. She’s joined by The Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) and The Fifth Brother (Sung Kang), other Force-sensitive warriors for the Dark Side first introduced in the 2014-2018 Disney XD series Star Wars Rebels.
Hayden Christensen’s return to playing Anakin/debut outing as sci-fi’s most iconic villain in his final form is arguably just as exciting as McGregor’s return to Obi-Wan. Vader is heard—but only briefly seen—at the end of the trailer.
What other Star Wars titles might come into play?
The prequels and originals have obvious connections to Obi-Wan Kenobi—but the Star Wars universe is vast and a slew of other titles may come into play.
- The Clone Wars is an animated series, set between Attack Of The Clones (22 BBY) and Revenge Of The Sith (19 BBY). Both Anakin and Obi-Wan, still allied, are featured heavily and their mentorship gets better developed. Plus, it features the heartbreaking love story of Obi-Wan and Duchess Satine Kryze, who hasn’t been announced as a character in the series but would make for an extremely cool one.
- The aforementioned Star Wars Rebels doesn’t include Reva as a character, but it does included animated versions of The Grand Inquisitor and The Fifth Brother, as well as a rich explanation of their origins.
- The video game Jedi: Fallen Order takes place in 14 BBY, so a few years before Obi-Wan Kenobi, but it also introduced a handful of new Inquisitors (like the Second Sister and Ninth Sister) who might get referenced.
- Canonically, also around this time: The Bad Batch (19 BBY), an animated Disney+ series about elite clone troopers, and Solo: A Star Wars Story (10 BBY), in which young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) does young Han Solo stuff with love interest Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke).
How will Obi-Wan Kenobi end?
“You can’t win, Obi-Wan,” Reva warns in the trailer. “You can’t escape him.”
Spoiler alert: She’s right! Obi-Wan Kenobi may defeat Anakin when they battle on Mustafar at the end of Revenge Of The Sith—but, if you’ve seen the Star Wars, you know, he doesn’t make it past A New Hope. Vader will kill Obi-Wan. That much is certain. While helping Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewbacca escape to the Millennium Falcon, the beloved Jedi Knight will die at Vader’s gloved hand. But Vader can’t kill Obi-Wan yet. Is there a fate worse than death?
59 Comments
Duchess Satine Kryze, who hasn’t been announced as a character in the series but would make for an extremely cool one.By extremely cool, you mean body temperature, right?
didnt she die before this series takes place?
This series is after all the shit in the cartoons.
Yeah, I was like “did nobody tell them?”
After Force Awakens, there was some fan speculation that maybe Obi Wan and Duchess Satine had a love child, and that love child then fathered/gave birth to Rey. Then I finally caught up with Clone Wars and realized that would be pretty impossible to pull off.Still would have been better than what Abrams came up with for RoS.
She’s secretly a reptile…DUH! DUH! DUH!
Cooler. Room temperature.Unless it’s a flashback.
I kind of suspect she’s confusing Satine and Sabine. Not the first time it’s happened here.
The most important question to me is: who will be doing darth vader’s voice? Hayden Christensen is Anakin, not Vader. At least, he’s not Vader’s voice, even if its his body in the suit. I havent seen any announcements that James Earl Jones is returning.
“As Ewan McGregor is set to return in the Disney Plus series, let’s parse out what to expect in this galaxy far, far away”Some stuff will happen and it will be…fine, but ultimately feel kind of naggingly hollow until you realize that you’ll just never be able to recapture the magic of watching Star Wars for the first time as a kid, no matter how many familiar characters and cool set pieces they throw at you. You’ll make peace with that, attempt to enjoy it on its own terms, and largely forget about it within two months.
I’m hearing this in Werner Herzog’s voice.
Suddenly his appearance in The Mandalorian makes sense.
Pretty much. It’s why I couldn’t get arsed about the complaints over the sequels; I knew there was no way to recapture lightning in a bottle. I just enjoyed them for what they were, which was a good time at the movies with some familiar faces.
Dont forget that the last two episodes of the Obi-Wan series will sideline the main plot for two guest shots of Mando.
Just stop being angry.
And by mid-season, the show will just mysteriously transform into The Mandalorian, Season 4.
What did you expect from show that already exists to explain what a character like Boba Fett gets up to but starring actual Boba Fett? I’m just so stunned that people think Boba Fett was a different show then The Mandalorian. They’re the same fucking character!!!!
Nothing Din Djarin did in those two seasons couldn’t have been done by Boba Fett he just got there first. My only theory for your anger is that you’re a fanboy of Boba Fett and you’re just… irrationally mad?
I mean, I can see how you’d be confused by the helmet shape – but canonically they are not and narratively, they are quite different personalities. Boba is old, semi-retired, has a history of brutal violence and killing (Darth Vader, a perpetrator of literal genocides, admonished Boba to take it easy in ESB). Boba’s conflict is his near-death experience awakening him to the value of protecting life and peace. Mando is young, generally non-lethal, and hyper-devoted to a religious faith. His conflict is realizing that the fundamentalist religion he was raised in begins to conflict with what he feels to be morally right. The two shows are at their best when they follow these character arcs. But Book seemed like it got bored of Boba halfway through and then panicked with a “Hey wait! Don’t change the channel! Um…you kids liked Mando! let’s see more of him instead!”
I’m excited for this for one reason only – to see McGregor’s take on Kenobi without the oppressive weight of George Lucas’ terrible dialogue and plotting.
I’d rather have seen how McGregor’s career would’ve played out had he turned down Phantom Menace. He was doing a lot of interesting stuff up until that point.
And to be fair, still is. Men Who Stare at Goats, Down with Love, Harley Quinn Birds of Prey, Blackhawk Down all came out after Phantom, at least. All great interesting movies and parts.
Specifically Men Who Stare at Goats. For the synergy of the final scene in that film with this. Friggin Jedis man.
“Jar Jar Binks! It’s good to see you!”
One time in Jedi camp, he let the saber hilt go in too deep.
One thing I am curious about is who’s doing the voice for Vader? Are they getting Jones back? Or as Comrade Napoleon would say, do we want Jones back? Even in Rogue One you could hear the age in his voice. Is Christensen going to have a go? Or will they just do the sensible thing and grab Scott Lawrence?
Hopefully it’s Jones, age be damned. He’s still iconic and the role is his.
I have to imagine they want to get as much out of Jones as they can while he’s still with us.
Maybe text-to-speech like they did with Luke in Boba Fett.
They should get Peter Serafinowicz.
A couple of times through this review/set up, there’s a sense of “we don’t know what’s going to happen”…isn’t that the point? Do we want to know everything that’s not revealed in the trailer before we watch the show? The official Disney show description is “laughably opaque”???I’ve been waiting for this show forevah and I didn’t even watch the last trailer because I. Specifically. Don’t. Want. To. Know.
You have to keep in mind that these are writers whose idea of a “review” consists of a retyped plot synopsis from the press kit.
I know… I really need to lower my expectations if I’m going to stick around here.
I don’t recognize any commenter here anymore from the old commentariat ten years ago. This site used to have such insightful thoughts on current pop culture. What a wasteland it’s become. My fault for still participating.
There’s a few. I’ve used various names over the years (decades!) and I’m assuming other people have also. But yeah, “wasteland” is appropriate. Are there any other pop culture websites with a decent comment section? I’ve looked before and haven’t found any so here I stay.
Odds on a Leia mention/sighting?
I wonder if Yoda will show up. It could be a good chance for Star Wars to explain why he totally bailed on the rebellion, and left the fighting to teenage princesses. Especially when the fall of the Republic happened on his watch and was at least partially his fault.
“The fan, the shit hit. The hell out of there, I got.”
This is not really relevant to this article specifically and I don’t mean to pick on Alison (who’s one of the better of the newer writers here). It’s just so nuts to me that such a large portion of modern entertainment journalism/blogging is about finding out all the information one can about an upcoming series/movie. Sincere question – what’s the value there? You’re going to find it all out soon by watching it! And isn’t it more fun to go in not knowing anything for something you’re going to watch anyway? Why is this such a cottage industry?
“what’s the value there?”For people who are more casual fans, I’d have to guess this would be quite useful.
I’ve been preaching this here for AGES.
There isn’t merit to people wanting to know every detail of the next MCU film before they see it, they’re just impatient and bored with their own lives.
Because what the hell else do you write about something you haven’t seen yet? Obviously it gets people to click on it, all of us included.
Man I am shocked this list left out the most crucial and obvious thing we all know about the new show Obi Wan! And that is:It’s going to suck shit. I and god why are we still wasting time and talent making this terrible dreck just to service tasteless 40 year old fan-bois.
“Look, it’s not that we aren’t excited for Obi-Wan Kenobi”
The A.V. Club seems to have apathy toward everything they write about these days. Woof. Just enough / be excited about something… anything.
My mom used to always say “if you don’t have something nice to say don’t say anything at all”. Can the A.V. Club at least act more interested in their writing assignments. Some of us do care.
It’s the return of ironic detachment… or maybe it isn’t… I don’t care.
“he and Luke can’t meet yet.”Why not? By the time we see them in Star Wars they’re already on a first name basis, they’re just not super chummy or anything.
Old guy, spying on young child.Nothing creepy about that.
Suddenly, Family Guy’s take on the character makes a lot more sense.
I love that George Lucas gave Seth McFarlane access to the full Star Wars sound and music library. The best Star Wars parody ever.
I’m wondering if they’re planning to explain how Obi Wan managed to get 40+ years older in a span of 19 years.
It’s been said elsewhere, but: Ewan is 51. Alec was 62. This takes played 9 years before ANH, so it’s not that much of a stretch.
Huh, I never realized Alec Guinness was only 62 in ANH. Dude looked at least upper 70s to me. I guess it’s more a matter of celebrities aging a lot more gracefully nowadays.
Probably that— diet / fitness coaches, advances in medicine, etc. Plus different people age differently (genes, lifestyle, etc— Guinness was a smoker until the end, I believe; McGregor quit that plus booze 15ish years ago). In-universe I guess chalk it up to the twin suns, or the stress from hacking up your friend and leaving him for dead. 🙂
I mean, he was always a dumpy looking guy even 30 years before it. And boy did he make the dumpiness work for him, especially as George Smiley
Satine Kryze has been dead for 10 years at this point, so I wouldn’t expect her to make a cameo.
Prediction (that won’t come true but should): Obi-Wan has to keep himself hidden from Vader, so he will murder every last person he meets, or at the very least blind them and mutilate their larynxes. Episodes will end with villages of space peasants tearfully thanking him for saving them from Stormtroopers, only to be horrified as his lightsaber sizzles to life and he advances upon them.