First trailer for the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series has dropped. And while it has not yet showed very much, it is already clear that it aims to captivate the potential audience: greeting with the face of Ewan McGregor as older (or younger… depending on your point of view!) Obi-Wan, a glimpse of young Luke, with Joel Edgerton returning as Uncle Owen, and some flashy lightsabers in the hands of dark Inquisitors.
Hello There! …Again
Ewan McGregor is certainly going to be the main appeal of this show (along with Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader), aiming to bring back the nostalgic audience. There are many fans who had distanced themselves from the newer Star Wars films and shows, but who might want to give Obi-Wan a try just because of Ewan.
The element of the lightsabers showed in the trailer should likewise not be underestimated: apart from the sequel trilogy, the recent films and shows usually did not show much of these iconic weapons, for understandable reasons. But here we are going to have the protagonist who can use one, and a bunch of opponents who can do likewise – so after a long fast, we can feast on some pure lightsaber action.
As for Luke, we are yet to see whether he is going to be present for more than just this one moment we were shown in the trailer. It would not be surprising if this was only a nice nod (but honestly, what can you show? It would be great if we did see something meaningful, however). Myself, I find that I am actually the most interested in seeing Uncle Owen (and aunt Beru – who for some reason did not earn such a noticeable spot in the first trailer) – partly because Joel Edgerton is an excellent actor, partly because here is the possibility to see the background of Luke’s surrogate family somewhat expanded. The trailer teases showing the Larses while they are facing the threat of Imperial persecution – harbouring a child the Empire would surely be interested in. I am not giving myself false hopes, but here is a chance for some interesting character-building (if we recall Owen’s vehement desire to stay out of trouble in A New Hope).
Rupert Friend as the Grand Inquisitor, the main antagonist from Star Wars Rebels, brought to live-action.
Meet The Inquisitors
Also notably, for the first time in live-action we see the Inquisitors. Those Force-users tasked by the Empire to hunt for Jedi survivors have appeared for the first time in the Star Wars Rebels TV show. They were brilliantly reused as main antagonists in Jedi: Fallen Order video game.
Obi-Wan takes place after Jedi: Fallen Order, so the iconic Second and Ninth Sister are no longer around. However some of the inquisitors from Rebels are. The trailer shows the Fifth Brother (the pale one with the strange-shaped hat, played by Sung Kang) as well as the Grand Inquisitor (the grey-faced one with two red stripes running down his cheeks, played by Rupert Friend), who was the main antagonist of the first season of Rebels.
The Third Sister, aka Reva, portrayed by Moses Ingram, on the newly introduced planet of Daiyu.
We also learned that we are going to see several new Inquisitors, such as the one played by Moses Ingram. We already know the rank AND name of that one: she’s the Third Sister, and her real name is Reva. Seasoned fans are probably wondering, just as I am, about whether the similarity of the name to a certain Darth from legends is coincidental or some poorly-covered (and questionable) nod. In any case, she seems epic enough on first sight.
The show is also going to reuse – to somebody’s delight, to somebody else’s dismay – the concept of the Inquisitors’ spinning double-bladed lightsabers. These were also first seen in Star Wars Rebels.
The obvious question any Rebels fan will ask is, where is the Seventh Sister, who was as important a character as the other two Inquisitors from Rebels (and arguably had more personality than the Fifth Brother). One possible answer may be that Disney did not want to cast her without her original voice actress, Sarah Michelle Gellar (even though casting a different actress than the original voice was not a problem with Ahsoka Tano). Or perhaps we are still up for a surprise. If not, we just have to hope that the new Inquisitors will be cool enough to make up for her absence.
Sung Kang as the Fifth Brother, a character from the second season of Star Wars Rebels, on Daiyu.
To “Space Hong Kong” And Onwards
What else did we learn? The name of the underworld-looking planet that was described by the show writer Joby Harold as having a “Hong Kong feel to it”: Daiyu. This brand new world seems ideal for Obi-Wan to show his chopping-hands-off-bartenders and mind-tricking-drug-addicts skills. The other planet that is making its debut in live-action is the water-moon Nur, with its Fortress Inquisitorius, the headquarters of the Inquisitors.
All in all, so far we do not have really that much information to go with yet, but we can see the generic outline. It does not differ much from what we have known or imagined for a while. In the near future we can probably expect a few more trailers and revelations, including – inevitably, sooner or later – some first look at Darth Vader in action.
