It's finally here. After what feels like an eternity of waiting, on Wednesday Lucasfilm finally released a teaser trailer for it's upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series, after releasing an impressive spread of images in Entertainment Weekly and activating the official Obi-Wan Twitter account in the best possible way ("Hello There" indeed.) To say that the Star Wars fandom reacted with overall rapturous joy to this development is probably an understatement. Let's just say that many chills were felt as we finally caught up with Ewan McGregor's iteration of the iconic Jedi Master and got our first proper glimpse at the story, which looks to take Obi-Wan on a "rollicking adventure", setting him on a collision course with his former pupil-turned-nemesis, Darth Vader. Let's break it all down:
I don't like Sand...it gets everywhere:
We open of course with the familiar sands of Tatooine, where the illustrious Obi-Wan Kenobi now lives in exile, watching over future hope for the galaxy Luke Skywalker and trying to lay low despite his Jedi inclinations to thwart injustice. This looks to be a particularly sombre time for Kenobi, as he appears ragged and downbeat, clearly haunted by past failures and the loss of his fellow Jedi, as hinted at in his sparse narration "The fight is done. We lost. Stay hidden." Who could he be speaking to in this moment? It's possible this is just a journal entry, but it sounds like he's addressing someone directly. Has Obi-Wan found a way to commune with Yoda through the Force, or is he perhaps talking with a new character, another Jedi survivor of Order 66 who has somehow tracked him down?
Another intriguing question is how much of a role Tatooine will play in the series. We see later in the trailer that Obi-Wan is eventually forced off-world, but based on what we see in the trailer and images, it looks like we'll spend one or two chapters in the six episode run on the sandy planet, or at least long enough to see what Obi-Wan's day-to-day life is like. Both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett greatly expanded upon the culture of Tatooine, so it would be interesting to see some elements that were introduced there crossover into Obi-Wan's daily routine. Maybe he could encounter a young Pelli Motto, or negotiate a truce between a tribe of Sand People and the moisture farmers?
In addition, there's various other stories documenting Kenobi's time in the desert to draw upon, such as the From the Journals of Obi-Wan Kenobi interludes in Jason Aaron's Star Wars series for Marvel Comics and John Jackson-Miller's Legends novel Kenobi, which also featured an Eopie steed owned by Obi-Wan that he named Rooh.
I'd be remiss not to mention the brief appearance of Owen Lars in the teaser, played once again by Joel Edgerton. As shown in the trailer, he bares witness to the arrival of the Inquisitors on Tatooine and even appears to square up to new Inquisitor Reva as she attempts to intimidate the locals. With the Inquisitors penchant for brutality, it's likely that Owen will see this as justification for his long-simmering distrust of Obi-Wan, as his Jedi presence seemingly attracts this dark threat that comes perilously close to discovering Luke's existence.
Nobody expects the imperial inquisition:
Talking of the Inquisitors, they got a big showing here, triumphantly making their live-action debut after first being introduced in the animated show Rebels. Regardless, this is likely to be the first time some Star Wars fans and indeed casual audiences will be meeting this group of Empire-sanctioned Jedi Hunters; and the trailer makes it clear what they're all about, with an ominous voiceover from the Grand Inquisitor, played here by Rupert Friend. "The key to hunting Jedi is patience." he intones. "Their compassion leaves a trail."
It's clear that the Inquisitors will be the main reason Obi-Wan has to temporarily depart Tatooine, so as to protect Luke, but what is it that draws them there in the first place. Is Kenobi's presence there betrayed by someone in Tatooine's criminal underbelly, like Jabba the Hutt? Could they be hunting another Jedi and Obi-Wan chooses to reveal himself in order to draw them away from their intended target?
The Grand Inquisitor looks set to play a decent role in the show alongside fellow Rebels alumni the Fifth Brother, played here by Sung Kang, as they are both shown participating in the hunt for Obi-Wan. The Inquisitor with the meatiest role however seems to be Moses Ingram as Reva, also known as the Third Sister, who is described by director Deborah Chow and writer Joby Harold as "ruthlessly ambitious".
That certainly indicates an intimidating villain who is dead set on catching any Jedi fugitives, most likely so she can ascend up the ranks and dethrone the Grand Inquisitor of his title, but there could be more to her than meets the eye. When asked about what distinguishes Reva from the other villains, Moses Ingram replied "it's all heart." That either means Reva could have traces of light left in her from her former life as a Jedi, or that Ingram is simply joking around. Time will tell.
New and old worlds:
Another big showcase is new planet Daiyu, which "sort of has a Hong Kong feel to it," according to Joby Harold. ""It's got a graffiti-ridden nightlife, and is kind of edgy. It's just got a different lane and a different feeling." Those comments imply that Daiyu will show a new side of the galaxy's underworld, with the various gangsters there serving as an effective smokescreen for Obi-Wan to try to lose the Inquisitors in. It's definitely a refreshing environment for Star Wars after the heavy focus on frontier worlds like Tatooine and Navarro for the previous live-action shows.
That's not the only location on offer here. We're also given a glimpse of the Inquisitors home base Fortress Inquisitorius, which previously appeared as the climactic level in the video game Jedi: Fallen Order. It might only be a fleeting appearance, used solely to establish the Inquisitors before sending them off on their mission, but given it's overall significance, as well as it's proximity to Darth Vader's castle on Mustafar (Fortress Inquisitorius is situated on the water moon Nur, which is practically Mustafar's neighbour.) it seems like the ideal place for the much-anticipated showdown between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader to take place. I'd gladly welcome the prospect of McGregor's Jedi Master sneaking around the facility and covertly disabling it, like he will go on to do years later whilst onboard the Death Star in A New Hope.
Your thoughts betray you:
Finally we come to Obi-Wan himself, who, as I said earlier, appears to be at a low point during his exile. Ewan McGregor explained that "We find Obi-Wan at the beginning of our story rather broken, and faithless, and beaten, somewhat given up." With everything that he's been through and the losses that he sustained throughout the prequel trilogy and The Clone Wars, it makes sense all of that would be weighing heavily on Kenobi's soul as he lives out a harsh life in the desert, perhaps leading him to question the Jedi's practices or if he's doing the right thing staying on Tatooine. His predicament even seems to rhyme thematically with Luke's journey in The Last Jedi, which means I'm fully expecting the main thrust of the narrative to be Obi-Wan making peace with his past and getting his Jedi mojo back, so to speak.
As you can tell, there was a lot to discuss in this trailer. Most of all I'm struck with how cinematic and distinct in tone the trailer feels from the preceding live-action Star Wars shows, though that could be down to the presence of multiple John Williams tracks that brought a tear to mine and several other prequel fans' eyes.
There's still so many other aspects I didn't even talk about, like how Darth Vader will fit into the series, Indira Varma's new Imperial officer character or whether Temuera Morrison will make an appearance as Commander Cody, but those are all best covered elsewhere. Hopefully all of our questions will be answered when Obi-Wan Kenobi arrives on Disney Plus on May 25....
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