Everyone’s favorite character is back. Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi is back in his self-titled show. In this excellent adventure, Obi-Wan is tasked to save a familiar face and is forced to face his past head on, becoming a jedi once again before he returns in Star Wars Rebels. We get to see both him and Hayden Christensen, as Darth Vader, go through their journeys as exes, getting way more personal in this post Order 66 series.
This show hasn’t gone about without its heavy controversy, however. There are fans who have hated the show before the series even finished (and honestly began) because of their racism towards the incredible Moses Ingram. She was tasked at creating a new character that has her own story. The Star Wars franchise has had its fair share of racism in the past with John Boyega playing a Storm Trooper, but Disney took action this time. They released a statement condemning the actions of these people, explaining that there are over 20 million species and that to hate Reva because of a Black actor is uncalled for. Ewan McGregor also posted a video on Instagram condemning this hate and saying that these so-called “fans” are not fans in his eyes and we love him for it. The expansion on an inquisitor in live action is also very beneficial to the franchise because, just like vader, there is a human deep inside the villain that can be shown if given the right time.
The show was tasked with showing what Obi-Wan, or well, Ben, has been up to since Order 66. We don’t know much, but we assume he has been in hiding, doing the same thing every day. We really see what a toll his last day as a Jedi took on him. Once conflict arises, we get to see that deep down, he still cares about people and is still a Jedi. He puts himself in harm’s way, getting to see his interactions with Darth Vader are the most beautiful scenes in television series history. These are callbacks that add poetry, emotion, and humanity into Darth Vader. He is not Anakin, we know that. But we can’t help but to feel the pain that Vader had to go through.
While the series felt underwhelming at times, a lot of questions were answered that were created by the prequels due to the fact that they left out details from the original trilogy that needed to be answered. Some of it may be phrases that seem off, physical features that are drastically different, and even just tying a story together that wasn’t finished. Whether the series gets another season or we just see more of the character in other shows or films, this fixes a lot of holes in the overall story arc of the franchise.
TJ Bogart is a Junior Film, Photo & Visual Arts major who runs around with a plastic lightsaber going “bzuhzzzz, wwwwoowww, brrruunggz.” They can be reached at [email protected].