After years away from our screen, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi has returned.
First announced at the D23 Expo back in 2019, Obi-Wan Kenobi is a special limited series streaming exclusively on Disney Plus. The series has reunited legendary Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi with his former Padawan turned Sith Lord, Darth Vader, for a climactic adventure that bridges the gap between the Star Wars prequels and the original trilogy.
Here's everything you need to know about Obi-Wan Kenobi...
When is the next Obi-Wan Kenobi episode?
New episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi arrive on Disney Plus on Wednesdays. The series finale is set to air on June 22.
Disney has also released some very impressive posters for the upcoming series. Check them both out below:
Obi-Wan Kenobi trailer
The full trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi gave us an exciting glimpse at some of the action we can expect to see as the Inquisitors hunt Obi-Wan across the galaxy, as well as teasing a confrontation with Luke's surrogate father, Owen Lars (Joel Egerton).
As if that wasn't enough, we also got a glimpse at Anakin being suited up as Darth Vader... and is Obi-Wan's final look in the trailer one of recognition? Does he sense his former Padawan?!
Check out the action-packed trailer below:
The first footage for Obi-Wan Kenobi came in the form of a teaser trailer packed full of plenty of Easter eggs for Star Wars fans. You can check it out below:
Obi-Wan Kenobi cast
Obviously, we can’t have Revenge of the Sith-era Obi-Wan Kenobi without Ewan McGregor returning. If his comments on Jimmy Kimmel Live! were anything to go by, he had a pretty good time shooting the new series, too!
The other exciting news is Hayden Christensen’s return as Darth Vader. His involvement was announced in December 2020, as part of the Disney Investor Day Star Wars presentation.
"We’re going to see a very powerful Vader," promises Hayden Christensen as EW presents the exclusive first look at the return of Darth Vader in #ObiWanKenobi. https://t.co/VI2efrRAZUMarch 10, 2022
The rest of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s cast was revealed back in March. During the series, Obi-Wan will come up against the Inquisitorius, a crack team of elite operatives commanded by Darth Vader who are employed to track down Jedi who survived Order 66.
This group is spearheaded by the Grand Inquisitor (played by Rupert Friend, Anatomy of a Scandal). The Grand Inquisitor has a number of operators working underneath him, including the Third Sister, Reva (Moses Ingram, The Queen's Gambit), who is particularly obsessed with finding Kenobi.
Not all of the Inquisitorius appear in Obi-Wan Kenobi, but so far we've also seen the Fourth Sister (Rya Kihlstedt, Superman & Lois) and the Fifth Brother (played by Sung Kang, Fast & Furious).
Also starring are: Joel Edgerton (The Underground Railroad) as Owen Lars, Bonnie Piesse (Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones) as Beru Lars, Kumail Nanjiani (Eternals) as conman Haja, Benny Safdie (Good Time) as escapee Jedi, Nari, Indira Varma (Game of Thrones) and O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Straight Outta Compton).
Grant Feely is also on hand as a young version of Luke Skywalker in the show. His announcement earned the approval of none other than Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill.
Hamill shared the casting announcement on Twitter, writing: "Grant Feely looks like a perfect Luke Skywalker and I am wishing him all the very best! #TheForceIsWithFeely"
Grant Feely looks like a perfect Luke Skywalker and I am wishing him all the very best!#TheForceIsWithFeely https://t.co/FOMDPEeht9March 15, 2022
As if this cast wasn't exciting enough, Vivien Lyra Blair (Bird Box) is on hand as the young incarnation of Princess Leia, accompanied by her parents Senator Bail (Jimmy Smits) and Breha (Simone Kessel) Organa.
If you want to learn more about the cast including the many guest stars who've appeared in the latest series, check out our Obi-Wan Kenobi cast guide right here.
One person we aren't expecting to see return is Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn. Although there were some rumors that Obi-Wan's former Jedi Master could make an appearance in the new Star Wars show, Liam Neeson has all but confirmed he won't be in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
At the very least, at Star Wars Celebration we learned that he'd definitely be returning to provide the voice of Qui-Gon for the animated anthology series, Tales of the Jedi.
When is Obi-Wan Kenobi set?
The live-action Obi-Wan Kenobi series picks up 10 years after Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi faced off on Mustafar at the end of Revenge of the Sith.
If you need a refresher, in this duel Obi-Wan defeated his former Jedi apprentice and left him to die after mourning what Anakin became once he'd given in to the Dark Side. Anakin’s body was then retrieved by Emperor Palpatine who rebuilt his body and housed it in Darth Vader's iconic armor, completing his transformation into the legendary villain.
This 10-year time jump means that Darth Vader has had plenty of time to get to work ruling over the rest of the galaxy far, far away with Emperor Palpatine. After leaving Leia with Senator Bail Organa and hiding Luke on Tatooine with his aunt, Obi-Wan then settled into self-imposed exile so he could watch over the young boy from afar.
"Obi-Wan. Now that’s a name I've not heard in a long time." Start streaming #ObiWanKenobi this Friday on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/df5JjViW9DMay 26, 2022
What's the plot of Obi-Wan Kenobi?
The plot for Obi-Wan Kenobi was kept tightly under wraps until the series launched,. Now that the show has started premiering, we'll be sharing episode recaps below, so don't read on unless you're caught up!
When Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy introduced the show during the 2020 Disney Investor Day, she focussed on Obi-Wan’s “greatest defeat”, which was allowing Anakin Skywalker to be corrupted and join the Dark Side of the Force.
She also described the show as “the rematch of the century” after confirming Hayden Christensen’s involvement.
Their duel in Revenge of the Sith remains one of the best parts of the prequel trilogy, and the promise of a rematch was hugely exciting.
We will update our Darth Vader timeline as we learn more about him in this series.
What happened in episode one?
In episode one, we saw the Inquisitors arrive on Tatooine on the trail of a Jedi. Nari gives himself away after the Inquisitors antagonize some townsfolk to bait him into revealing himself to the Inquisitors. Reva nearly executes him on the spot, but the Grand Inquisitor intervenes and allows him to escape.
The Grand Inquisitor expressed his distaste for Reva's recklessness and her obsession with tracking down Kenobi, who is also in hiding on the planet and working at a meat factory under the alias Ben.
Obi-Wan has retreated from society and watches over Luke Skywalker from afar, but he is haunted by his failings and abandoned his past. In private, he attempts to make contact with Qui-Gon Jinn through the Force but fails.
Nari tracks Obi-Wan down, but he refuses to help Nari and tells him their struggle is over and that their fight has been lost. Later, Obi-Wan finds Nari's corpse strung up in town.
Owen Lars meets Obi-Wan in town and hands back a gift he'd left for Luke, telling him to stay away from the boy. The Inquisitors then arrive in town again, on the trail of Kenobi; during this stand-off, Reva tries to intimidate Owen in giving up info on Obi-Wan, but he refuses.
Meanwhile, we get to see a day in the life of a young Princess Leia on Alderaan, though she is later kidnapped by a team of bounty hunters. They were recruited by Reva, who wants to use Leia to draw Obi-Wan ot of hiding.
Leia's parents contact Obi-Wan and beg him to help, but he refuses, prompting Bail Organa to travel out to visit him in person and convince him he's the right person for the job. Obi-Wan digs up his lightsaber and buys passage to Daiyu.
What happened in episode two?
Obi-Wan arrives on Daiyu, where he crosses paths with Haja, a conman who has been masquerading as a Jedi to help people get off-world in exchange for a few credits.
Haja tells him where the bounty hunters have been keeping Leia, allowing Obi-Wan to save her. The Grand Inquisitor learns the Jedi has arrived on the planet and has the city locked down to prevent them from evading him once more.
Reva goes against the Inquisitor's orders and has a bounty put out on Obi-Wan; when the mercenaries begin to target them as they try to escape, Leia runs away from Obi-Wan whilst the duo are pursued by Reva and bounty hunters across the city. He eventually regains Leia's trust after using the Force to save her from tumbling to her death off a roof.
Haja finds Obi-Wan and directs him to a cargo port that he'll be able to use to escape Daiyu and attempts to distract Reva, but she shoves him aside and pursues Obi-Wan and Leia to the cargo hold. As Obi-Wan hides from Reva, she reveals that Anakin is still alive and that he's been looking for his former master for some time.
The Grand Inquisitor confronts Reva for her insubordination, but she stabs him with her lightsaber, allowing Obi-Wan and Leia to escape in the process. As Obi-Wan processes what he's just learned, we cut to somewhere else in the galaxy and see Anakin awaken in a bacta tank.
What happened in episode 3?
On Mustafar, Reva informs Darth Vader that Obi-Wan is still alive. She lies and blames the Grand Inquisitor's death on Obi-Wan. Vader dismisses the loss and demands that Reva proves herself, suggesting that she could be made the next Grand Inquisitor.
She heads to the Fortress Inquisitorius on Nur to tell the other Inquisitors that she's in charge of the hunt for Kenobi, much to the Fifth Brother's disgust.
Meanwhile, Obi-Wan and Leia arrive on Mapuzo and head to Haja's rendezvous point, but his contact doesn't arrive. They decide to flag down a passing alien known as Freck to take them to the nearest spaceport. Freck takes them to an Imperial checkpoint, where Obi-Wan and Leia's cover is finally blown; luckily, undercover Imperial officer Tala Durith arrives at the scene to help them escape.
Tala takes the duo to her workshop, where she reveals she helps Force-sensitive people to evade the Empire on "The Path". That evening, Obi-Wan senses Vader's arrival on Mapuzo. He tells Tala to get Leia back to Alderaan and rushes to distract Vader, who is viciously attacking the settlement.
Vader pursues Obi-Wan through a quarry and overpowers him in a brief lightsaber duel and then uses the Force to drag him through flames before ordering his stormtroopers to seize the Jedi. Tala reignites the flames to cut Obi-Wan's body off so her droid NED-B can rescue him. Meanwhile, Leia runs into the Third Sister, who kidnaps her once again.
What happened in episode four?
Obi-Wan wakes up in a bacta tank, panicking over his brutal encounter with Darth Vader. Tala informs him he's on Jabiim, prompting Obi-Wan to ask after Leia, who's being interrogated by Reva in the Fortress Inquisitorius.
Tala and Obi-Wan ask Roken to help them head to Nur to rescue Leia once more. He eventually agrees, and they form a plan of attack with Roken's rebel comrades.
Tala uses her Imperial Officer clearance to get into the Fortress and guide Obi-Wan into an open port which she overrides to enable him to sneak aboard whilst Reva continues to interrogate her.
Leia refuses to give anything up, and Reva has her prepared for torture. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan finds his way into some sort of Jedi tomb. Obi-Wan senses Leia's imminent danger, so asks Tala to distract Reva whilst he goes and saves her.
Imperial forces attempt to capture Obi-Wan and Leia, but they eventually reunite with Tala and slip through the Inquisitors' grasp once again. A furious Darth Vader arrives and Force chokes Reva for disappointing him once again. Reva manages to redeem herself by revealing that she'd place a tracker aboard the rebel ship that Obi-Wan and Leia escaped in (revealed to be hidden inside Leia's droid, Lola).
What happened in episode 5?
Throughout this episode, we see ala, Obi-Wan and Leia returned to Jabiim to find that other survivors from the Imperial attack have been waiting for transportation off-world until they returned.
Obi-Wan, Tala, Roken, Leia and Haja begin working to prep the hangar for the impending Imperial assault after they realize they've been tracked back to Jabiim.
During the attack, Obi-Wan buys the rebels extra time by speaking to Reva, who reveals that she had been plotting to kill Darth Vader herself after she survived Anakin's attack on the Jedi Temple during the execution of Order 66.
Reva refuses Obi-Wan's help and cuts through the doors with her lightsaber, launching the full-scale assault on the facility. In the fight, Tala uses a thermal detonator and sacrifices herself to help the others escape.
To prevent further deaths, Obi-Wan surrenders himself to Reva; this time, he convinces her to use him as bait to draw Vader out so she can take her revenge. Soon after his surrender, Vader lands on Jabiim but fails to stop Obi-Wan and the other survivors' ship from leaving.
Reva attempts to kill Vader, but he easily overcomes her using the Force and engages her in a brutal lightsaber duel which she loses. The Grand Inquisitor then returns, and Vader strikes her again, leaving her for dead on Jabiim.
What might happen in Obi-Wan Kenobi?
Naturally, we want to know what Obi-Wan was doing before he trained Luke Skywalker. He was watching over Luke before he adopted the identity of “Ben Kenobi” (as played by Alec Guinness), but he must have been doing something else whilst in his self-imposed exile. Perhaps he attempted to reach other Jedi whilst Darth Vader continued the Great Jedi Purge?
Concept art was shown during the press preview which teased a second, watery world. This means that we'll probably see Obi-Wan venturing to other planets, rather than spend the entire series on Tatooine. This theory was since confirmed, as Obi-Wan was tasked with heading to Daiyu to rescue the young Princess Leia.
Although it’s unconfirmed, we could also see Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels character Ahsoka Tano reunite with Jedi Master Obi-Wan. Ahsoka Tano was introduced into the live-action Star Wars world in season 2 of The Mandalorian (played by Rosario Dawson), but the character has been a big presence in Star Wars media since she first appeared in The Clone Wars movie in 2008.
Ahsoka was Darth Vader’s main target for locating Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan effectively served as her second mentor whilst she was Anakin’s apprentice. Since all three characters have a history with each other, there’s a chance they might cross paths somehow in the upcoming limited series. The fact that filming on Ahsoka recently got underway suggests that this theory is unlikely, but it's still interesting to speculate
Recently we took a look around the web for other exciting theories to check out what Star Wars fans want to see in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Who directed Obi-Wan Kenobi?
Canadian director and writer Deborah Chow is at the helm of Obi-Wan Kenobi as director and showrunner. She’s directed episodes of some of the biggest TV shows of the past few years, including Better Call Saul, American Gods, The Man in the High Castle, Lost in Space, and, most notably, two episodes of The Mandalorian season 1.
Who wrote the series?
The series has been penned by English screenwriter and producer Joby Harold. Joby was an executive producer on Edge of Tomorrow, John Wick 3 and was a co-writer on Guy Ritchie’s 2017 fantasy epic King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.
He also co-wrote Zack Snyder’s recent Netflix zombie heist, Army of the Dead, and is working on Paramount’s as-yet-untitled Bumblebee sequel.
Who composed the music?
Loki composer Natalie Holt has provided the score for the new series, making her the first woman to score a live-action Star Wars project.
This news broke in a Vanity Fair interview on April 22. That interview also confirmed that Natalie had worked in collaboration with Star Wars legend John Williams, who is providing an original theme for the exiled Jedi.
Natalie said: "Obviously, I'm just thrilled to be mentioned in the same breath as John Williams. It's been exciting and overwhelming at times, because I'm such a fan. I want to pay respect to the history of it, and do it justice as well."
In the interview, Natalie confirmed that we hadn't heard heard any of her own work before the main trailer, as the song in the teaser was John Williams' "Duel of the Fates" from The Phantom Menace.
