Obi-Wan Kenobi highlights the everyday people who stepped up to help

This post contains SPOILERS for Episode 4 of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Not everyone in Star Wars can be a Jedi, a senator, or a queen; not everyone stands in the kind of spotlight that gives them the power to do more good in a broken galaxy. In the dark times of the Empire, however, it’s not just the big names making waves. In fact, many times it’s much less dangerous for those in the shadows to step up and make a difference. Obi-Wan Kenobi has already introduced a handful of characters doing just that.

“Part IV” introduced viewers to smuggler Roken (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), a man the Empire would consider to be a Jedi sympathizer. Though reluctant to help Obi-Wan and Tala rescue Leia at first, Roken reveals he was married to someone who was Force-sensitive and lost her to the Inquisitors. There’s a reason he does the work he does; he genuinely wants to help make the galaxy better and safer, even when it puts him in danger.

Tala is no different. We don’t know all of her exact motivations for working with The Path, for risking her life to go undercover as an Imperial Officer and lying her way through security checkpoints to help people she barely knows escape their own perils. But she does it regardless of the sacrifice — seemingly because she, too, genuinely wants to see hope in her galaxy again.

Star Wars has always taken the time, especially in recent years, to show the larger impacts ordinary citizens can have on the fate of the galaxy. Many of the pilots Luke Skywalker flew beside in A New Hope were “nothing special.” The Wookiees that helped Yoda escape Kashyyyk after Order 66 were unknown to the in-universe masses. The Bad Batch is all about a group of clones relying on the help of “nobodies” to ensure their survival. There are many more stories of the seemingly unextraordinary making a difference in the galaxy; this is just the beginning.

Obi-Wan Kenobi stars Ewan McGregor with appearances by Hayden Christensen and Kumail Nanjiani and is directed by Deborah Chow, who previously directed an episode of The Mandalorian. The series is streaming now exclusively on Disney+.

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