Obi-Wan Kenobi

Disney+ K-12 first episode premiere May 27, 2022

SPOILER-FREE
Long awaited – and I can tell you, it was worth it! Fantastic, both thumbs up!
(Just in case those “fans” turn up screaming about this miniseries being soooo against canon, wrong etc because Obi-Wan cannot be or act like this as he’s always been so highly moral hero blah blah – as they did about a cynical Luke in “the last Jedi” – just ignore them).

Not revealing more about the story as it could be seen in the trailers:
The Empire’s Inquisitors (eg. Rupert Friend as Grand Inquisitor, Moses Ingram as Inquisitor Reva) are after Jedis and their apprentices who survived Order 66 – and we already know about those thanks to Star Wars Rebels, Mandalorian etc. The introduction shows us in a summary what happened and also reveals one of the mysteries around those force ghosts. Which means, one purpose of this miniseries is to fill some movie plot holes (just like eg. The Book of Boba Fett).

Jedi master Obi-Wan alias Ben Kenobi tries to keep a low profile on Tatooine, in order to stay hidden and to keep an eye on young Luke (played by Grant Feely) from a distance. Well, that would not be enough for a 6-part-series… But let’s not forget there’s the sister Leia and we know very little about her early years. Suddenly she appeared on the screen back then in 1977, this young senator and courageous rebel, with the Death Star plans, and she knew Ben Kenobi… the movie Rogue One told us how she got the plans but not more about her. Now the first episodes of this series tell us more about Leia’s past.

Presumably Carrie Fisher herself would be thrilled to see Vivien Lyra Blair as the young incarnation of her legendary role – I fell once again in love with this little but strong and fearless character. You need to remember that I grew up with princesses who were nothing but pretty, otherwise just helplessly waiting for their rescue. Therefore such a cheeky Leia Organa portrayed by Carrie Fisher became a major inspiration. No idea how the much more “emancipated” generations feel about this character. However, the world surely can use many more strong and positive female identification (action) figures! And this little Leia is a real cheeky one, stealing the show – the first episodes should therefore be re-named “Princess Leia and Obi-Wan” 🙂

By the way, you will recognize some other characters from the movies – e.g. Joel Edgerton as Owen Lars, Bonnie Piesse as Beru Lars, Jimi Smits as Senator Organa and – Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader! And C3PO – and more easter eggs, therefore looking forward to the upcoming episodes!

Director: Deborah Chow (director and writer, known for The Mandalorian, Better Call Saul and American Gods).

Writers: Joby Harold, George Lucas, Hossein Amini, Stuart Beattie, Hannah Friedman, Andrew Stanton