Could these new Obi-Wan books tie into the Kenobi series?

It seems Obi-Wan Kenobi is on everyone’s mind lately (as if he wasn’t already before it was confirmed he’d get his own show). As the Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series draws nearer every day, and with the announcement of new books featuring the character this week, Star Wars fans can’t stop talking about him.

Two of the newly announced books in 2022’s Star Wars publishing lineup, Brotherhood and Padawan, feature Obi-Wan during the Clone Wars and before The Phantom Menace respectively. That’s a lot of new Obi content. And it might not just be because he’s an original fan favorite.

It wouldn’t be at all surprising if, somehow, these books and things we learn more about in 2022’s Disney+ series magically line up.

Obi-Wan Kenobi series and books

Kenobi is a limited series, which means there’s essentially only one short season of story to tell. Many have speculated that at least some of the show will focus on Obi-Wan dealing with his past, which could range from his relationship with Satine to the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader.

One or both of the books mentioned above could allow for even more expansion on his past and the trauma he must come to terms with in order to progress to the state we meet him in near the end of Star Wars Rebels.

This isn’t to say that you’d have to read the books to appreciate the show or the other way around. The Lucasfilm Story Group is pretty good about creating supplementary material in books and comics that enhances what appears on-screen rather than replaces it – one can easily and effectively exist without the other. Consuming both simply adds a little extra flavor to the experience.

But with the amount of planning that goes into Star Wars publishing, and considering how long the Kenobi series has been in development (far longer than that unforgettable moment between Ewan McGregor and Kathleen Kennedy onstage), coincidence is highly unlikely. We’re not getting all this Obi-Wan goodness at once for no reason.

Give us entire books that expand upon flashbacks. Give us stories that take one seemingly throwaway line in the show and run with it. If one episode of Visions can inspire an entire novel brilliantly set in a galaxy far, far away, either of these books can expand upon teases from the show and create something truly wonderful.

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi is set to release sometime in 2022 on Disney+.