The upcoming Obi-Wan series for Disney+ has the potential to explore several loose plot threads about Obi-Wan’s time between Star Wars Episodes III and IV.
Ewan McGregor’s performance as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels was one of the highlights of the trilogy. This is why so many fans are looking forward to the upcoming Disney+ series centered on Obi-Wan. McGregor recently shared his understanding that the show will be “a standalone season,” but he immediately admitted that the decision to make only one season wasn’t definitive yet. “We’ll see. Who knows?”
While I enjoy long-form television that runs several seasons, I’ve found that I tend to appreciate more when a series has a clear and definite pre-planned end, an appreciation that developed when ABC’s LOST was announced early on to be only a six-season series. A series like The Walking Dead, which began strong in its early seasons, feels more and more like a story without a clear direction as the series’ creators continued to leave the show’s end date open for the potential to tell more stories. So planning the Obi-Wan series to have a clear end and beginning could be a smart move for Disney+.
1. An opportunity to explore loose plot threads
The Obi-Wan series is set to take place in a very condensed period of time in Star Wars history, although recent rumors have suggested a possible dual timeline to include flashbacks to Obi-Wan’s time as a general in the Clone Wars. As a standalone, the show could answer some of the most important questions about Obi-Wan’s time between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope without meandering into less important details, but the storytelling potential created by some of the more important questions could require multiple seasons.
2. The psychological aftermath of leaving Anakin for dead
The end of Obi-Wan’s story in Revenge of the Sith was the beginning of his life in exile on Tatooine. After defeating Anakin on Mustafar, Obi-Wan left him for dead, and we have every reason to believe that Obi-Wan believed that Anakin was dead at the end of the film. Obi-Wan’s declaration that Anakin wasn’t just a friend, but a brother, means that there were likely some serious psychological consequences to Obi-Wan’s actions.
Did he feel guilty for leaving Anakin? How did the guilt impact his interactions with Luke and Owen? How long before he heard rumors of the Emperor’s enforcer known as Darth Vader, a name Obi-Wan would have readily associated with Anakin? Did he ever consider trying to find Anakin and turn him back to the light?
With recent rumors that Hayden Christensen will be appearing in the series, the storytelling potential for Obi-Wan and Anakin alone is staggering. Sure, they could show flashbacks of the two during the Clone Wars, but there’s nothing about Obi-Wan and Darth Vader’s encounter in A New Hope to demand that the two had never seen each other before that moment. Especially in light of Obi-Wan saying to Luke in Return of the Jedi, “I also thought he could be turned back to the good side. It couldn’t be done.” The Obi-Wan series would be the perfect opportunity to explore how Obi-Wan came to that conclusion.
3. Watching the galaxy’s last hope grow up
The Obi-Wan series also gives us the opportunity to see Luke Skywalker as a little boy. If you’re a fan of the 2015 Star Wars comic from Marvel, you’ve probably seen some isolated flashbacks of Luke as a little boy and interactions with Obi-Wan through the journal of Ben Kenobi.
But this series opens up the opportunity to see how Luke coped with knowing he was an orphan. We know he was told a story about Anakin that erased his father’s Jedi history, and it will be interesting to see Obi-Wan wrestling with the decision to hide the truth about Luke’s father and mother.
4. A growing unrest between Obi-Wan and Owen Lars
We know from A New Hope that Owen doesn’t care for Obi-Wan or his influence in Luke’s life, but why exactly does he feel this way? He barely knew Anakin, as far as we know, and he had little reason to dislike Obi-Wan. So what did Obi-Wan do to cause Owen to try to distance Luke from him?
Did Owen know the truth about Anakin? Is that why he was uncomfortable with Aunt Beru’s comment that there was too much of his father in Luke? Did Obi-Wan and Owen have conversations about Anakin and Obi-Wan’s hopes for Luke? The Obi-Wan series could explore these questions and deepen the context for Owen’s opinions of Obi-Wan in A New Hope.
5. A new apprenticeship to Qui-Gon Jinn
One of the most powerful moments of Obi-Wan’s story is in A New Hope when Darth Vader strikes him down with his lightsaber and Obi-Wan’s body immediately disappears. We, of course, soon learn that Obi-Wan became one with the Force at that moment and was then able to appear to Luke as a Force ghost.
But this isn’t an ability that all Jedi are able to perform. Obi-Wan had to learn it, and a conversation with Yoda at the end of Revenge of the Sith suggests that he learned it from Qui-Gon Jinn while in exile on Tatooine. Will that mean a return of Liam Neeson as the voice of Qui-Gon Jinn in the Obi-Wan series? Will Obi-Wan’s training to become a Force ghost look similar to Yoda’s training in the sixth season of The Clone Wars?
6. Tatooine and beyond?
Another compelling question the Obi-Wan series could address is whether or not Obi-Wan ever left Tatooine. If he ever did encounter Darth Vader after Revenge of the Sith, it almost surely couldn’t have taken place on Tatooine because of the danger it would pose to Luke. If Obi-Wan ever traveled off-world, it raises a host of other questions. Did he ever meet with Bail Organa? Did he ever meet young Princess Leia? Did he ever try to find any other remaining Jedi in the galaxy? What did his interactions with the Empire look like? How close did he ever get to getting caught by the Inquisitors?
Ewan McGregor also mentioned that the Obi-Wan series will begin shooting next year. Regardless of if the series is a standalone season or more, there are many aspects of the overall Star Wars mythology the show could explore in the context of Obi-Wan’s story. I, for one, can’t wait to see Lucasfilm come up with.