Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Star Wars series arriving on Disney + on May 27th, will take us back to the atmosphere of the famous saga, in a troubled period of the existence of the Jedi Knight played by Ewan McGregor. Set ten years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, the series will have a strong link to Obi-Wan's past, so much so that Obi-Wan Kenobi director Deborah Chow said the cameos will be mainly related to the Prequel Trilogy. .Subscribe now to Disney + for € 8.99 per month or € 89.90 per year
Obi-Wan Kenobi: will the cameos be linked to the Prequel Trilogy?
Understandable, considering that the Prequel Trilogy (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith) will play the main role in the definition of the Obi-Wan that we will see. The Jedi master must now face the consequences of the Order's failure, which led to the fall of the Republic and the creation of the Empire, ruled by Palpatine and his servant, Darth Vader. It could only be the past that is most valued in the new series, so much so that Deborah Chow wanted to clarify, during an interview with Entertainment Weekly:
"Considering the nature of the characters, the strongest bond is certainly with the Prequel Trilogy for us. Because in large part, that's where our characters come from and where their story began. That's why the prequels are more connected with what we will tell "| ); }
"Obviously Coming from The Mandalorian, I have a lot of that DNA left over. And a lot of my Jedi masters, like Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, stayed deep inside me, but I didn't try to create forced calls. My intention was to tell a story that was respectful of the character, and this is the origin of the connection to the Prequel Trilogy "
An aspect that has its roots in the very concept of Obi-Wan Kenobi, as he explained in the past the screenwriter Joby Harold:
“From the beginning we worked with a unique story in mind. I have always imagined this story as a chapter, inserted in the canon, of the story of the character between the two trilogies. There was a chapter that hadn't been told, which seemed to me like an episode 3 and a half. And in the midst of this absence, I saw a story that was autonomous, knowing that it was still linked to the past and linked to what was to happen. BUT where it was possible, I always thought this way, as a contrast to the other series that were coming out. "
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“Obi-Wan was the soul of [the Original Trilogy.] He was the one who pulled back the curtain and introduced the audience to a new world—not just mythology-wise, but a new world of storytelling and everything that George built,” Harold, a self-described “Original Trilogy kid,” explains. “It was through Obi-Wan’s eyes, through his words, that we all came to understand that bigger world. Because of that, he’s always been, to me, the character that was the most compelling. As much as it was the Skywalker story, Obi-Wan was the entry point.”
The same is true of Prequel Obi-Wan. When McGregor was cast in 1999’s The Phantom Menace, he was accepting not only the biggest part of his career but a huge responsibility to Star Wars fandom. While on the surface the first Prequel film begins the story of Anakin’s tragic fall to the dark side, the movie is truly about Obi-Wan, who, while slightly in the background for the first two acts of the movie, must eventually become the mentor he was always destined to be. When he takes Anakin as his apprentice at the end of Episode I, he’s once again ushering all the kids in the audience into a larger world.
This is why there’s no better character with which to explore yet another unseen era of Star Wars, according to Harold.
“If you’re going to tell a legacy story, this didn’t just feel like another character you were taking advantage of; it felt like the right character to tell a story between the Original Trilogy and the Prequels,” Harold says. “He’s the one who’s been bearing witness throughout that story, to all the different elements of it, everything that happens with Anakin, it’s Obi-Wan.”
But Obi-Wan is also a well-established character who’s been explored across movies, animated series, books, comics, and games. You could easily end up repeating yourself. Harold agrees: “It has to be its own story. If you get consumed too much by the legacy of it all, I think it can suffocate the storytelling.”
Fortunately, Obi-Wan Kenobi brings plenty of new elements to the table. Gone are the Republic and the Separatists of the Prequels, replaced by an Empire on the rise. The Jedi no longer command armies but are hunted down by them. Darth Vader has his very own order of Jedi executioners known as The Inquisitorius, led by the Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend). In fact, when Obi-Wan is forced out of hiding to go undercover on a new, neon-drenched planet called Daiyu, he comes face to face with one of these Jedi hunters: Reva (Moses Ingram), who brings “attitude, ambition, guile, [and] a whole new energy,” according to Harold.