Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan Kenobi is finally on Disney+ and we break down the first two episodes, including surprising character returns and all the big moments.

He hands them a Sabacc card with the information and tells them to hurry. We cut to a scarred figure in a Bacta tank (didn’t we have enough of those in “The Book of Boba Fett” too?) Wires are sticking out everywhere. The Grand Inquisitor crumbles to the ground. Leia runs to the cargo ship, inserts the key and waits for Obi-Wan. Reva’s movements and the fact that she’s on a rooftop is reminiscent of the introductory scene in the first “Matrix” where Trinity’s powers are being revealed. He buys a toy from the Jawa and the Jawa tries to sell him a Jedi’s belt. She tries to protest but he tells her: “You’re the least of us.” Ouch! “I brought Kenobi here,” she says. The show was clearly filmed during quarantine and the need for social distancing and smaller casts is understandable but this is supposed to be a big “Star Wars” epic and time and time again in the episode, it felt hopelessly small. “The Jedi will hunt himself,” she says, repeating something that she said in the cantina at the beginning of the episode. What is presumably the next day, Obi-Wan travels to a rocky outcropping. He travels to the city and finds his pet eopie, feeding it the little sliver of steak. Ewan McGregor is back as the titular Jedi, ten years after the events of “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith,” as he watches over a young Luke Skywalker and contemplates the events that led him there.

How to watch Obi-Wan Kenobi Star Wars TV series on Dinsey+, starring Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen. Plus release date, episode list, ...

As always, Disney are keeping plot details scarce, but the official synopsis reads "During the reign of the Galactic Empire, former Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi embarks on a crucial mission. Unfortunately Disney+ doesn't currently offer a free trial, but you may be able to save some money if your mobile network is O2, as they offer six months of Disney+ free for upgrading and new customers. A brand new entry in the Star Wars franchise has joined Disney Plus' growing catalogue of originals, with the miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi now streaming on the exclusive home of Star Wars content.

Here's where Obi-Wan Kenobi fits on the sprawling Star Wars timeline.

Obi-Wan Kenobi's place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope means that we know certain things are bound to happen in the future, too. Before we get stuck in, it's worth breaking down how the Star Wars timeline actually works. When does Obi-Wan Kenobi take place in the Star Wars timeline?

Early reactions to Ewan McGregor's Disney+ Star Wars TV mini series suggest the force is strong with this one.

ComicBook’s Brandon Davis had a similar response, telling his followers Obi-Wan Kenobi was “really surprising! Meanwhile, Total Film attended an early screening of Obi-Wan Kenobi and gave it a thumbs up on Twitter: “Wow, what a start” they said, adding intriguingly that the first episode “pulls Obi into the action in a very unexpected way.” It’s McGregor’s first time back in the Jedi gown for 17 year since 2005’s Revenge of the Sith, and Obi-Wan Kenobi will fill in the character’s unknown back story between the events of that film and 1977’s A New Hope.

To tie in with the release of the first two episodes of the new Star Wars series, "Obi-Wan Kenobi", Disney+ has added some new profile avatars of Obi-Wan ...

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. To tie in with the release of the first two episodes of the new Star Wars series, “Obi-Wan Kenobi”, Disney+ has added some new profile avatars of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Inquisitor Reva.

We've got everything else you need below to catch the latest Star Wars show the second it drops on Disney Plus, with the exact time you can expect the episodes ...

Obi-Wan Kenobi is dropping a new episode on Disney Plus weekly, following its double season premiere. so keep refreshing that landing page to catch the episodes the second they drop! That means you can watch episodes 1 and 2 together straightaway.

The latest Star Wars spin-off from Disney+ sees the Scot put in his best performance as the legendary Jedi in a John Wick-esque caper with marvellous action ...

It’s the sort of character and performance that would usually deserve its own spin-off, even if it didn’t exist in the world of modern Star Wars, where every single character who ever appears onscreen is all but guaranteed a full series about their origin story. In the prequel series they often overwhelmed McGregor’s performance, but here, he wears them lightly, letting some of his natural charisma seep through. The series actually starts to justify its own existence. The story goes that this series started life as a film. Post-Lucas Star Wars exists almost exclusively to bulk out thin gruel, joining various dots that didn’t need to be joined, for the delight of a quickly ageing fanbase. Kenobi left Anakin Skywalker for dead a decade ago and, realistically, it’s another decade before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope.

Wondering when you'll get to watch episode 3 of Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney Plus? Well, read this post to learn about the episode's release date.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is following a weekly release schedule, so Episode 3 of the mini-series will be available to stream on Disney Plus next week on Friday, June 3rd, 2022. Lucasfilm has already confirmed that the first season of Obi-Wan Kenobi will feature a total of six episodes. Well, here’s everything we know about the next episode’s release schedule.

The official social media account of "Star Wars" announced on Thursday night that the 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' Episode 1 would be released hours earlier than ...

Moreover, there will be unexpected twists in the show that will surprise the fans. In a recently published article on VARIETY, ‘Star Wars’ announced “The time for @ObiWanKenobi has arrived… Meanwhile, those on the West Coast can stream the first two episodes of the show at 9 p.m. PT. The ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ will star Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen. It was first reported that the show would be released at midnight.

Ewan McGregor's Jedi Master may be keeping a watchful eye on Luke Skywalker, but his twin sister Princess Leia Organa plays a vital role in the Disney+ ...

Despite Blair taking on one of the most important roles in the franchise the actor is not listed on the show's IMDb page, likely because Lucasfilm did not want to reveal how important the character would be to the story. This is also not the first time Blair has portrayed a younger version of a key character onscreen, as she played a young Eleanor Roosevelt in HBO's First Lady. The Jedi Master returns in his own Disney+ limited series, which is set ten years after the events of Revenge of the Sith and finds Obi-Wan living in solitude on Tatooine, where audiences were first introduced to him in A New Hope.

The episode ends with Vader floating in a bacta tank, yellow eyes on display and a breathing mask strapped over his mouth and nose. We hear that iconic ...

THAT ENDING FOR EPISODE TWO THOUGH," thinks another person (opens in new tab). But this is even better jsjsjs," says someone else (opens in new tab). "Seeing it jump from Obi Wan saying "Anakin"… to actual Vader/Anakin in the bacta tank. "The first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi were quite the emotional thrill ride. "THAT ENDING TO EPISODE 2 OF #ObiWanKenobi OMGGGG The first 2 episodes were amazing. And the 3rd one is going to be even better…"

Ewan McGregor is stepping back into the role of Obi-wan Kenobi for his own miniseries too. There's a lot to learn about the iconic Jedi Master.

When Luke finds R2-D2 and discovers a message on it destined for an "Obi-Wan Kenobi," Luke pays a visit to the only Kenobi he knows, the old man in the desert. Obi-Wan gives the girl, Leia, to Bail Organa on Alderaan and takes the boy, Luke, to his aunt and uncle on Tatooine to keep them safe. When Anakin’s hubris leads to a mistake in judgment, Kenobi slices off his limbs, sending him sliding down to the lava’s edge. Despite the sacred Jedi code of non-attachment, Obi-Wan wished Anakin the happiness he had been denied. To save Palpatine, Anakin attacks his own superior, embracing the dark side and becoming Darth Vader. Meanwhile, the Jedi Council, including Yoda, are hesitant to believe Kenobi’s claims about a Sith Lord in the Senate. Armed with plans for a new weapon, the Death Star, he meets with his master, Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid), and the two agree that things are going well. In 2002’s Attack of The Clones, Obi-Wan finds that a bounty hunter named Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison) has been hired as the template for the clone army. Jinn is adamant and makes Obi-Wan promise to train Anakin with his dying breath. Queen and now Senator Amidala narrowly survives an assassination attempt, and Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi is assigned to track her would-be killer. As he's watching over a young Luke Skywalker (Grant Feely), the Empire sets their sights on Kenobi, and he's off to go on another adventure. Fans of the Star Wars franchise have overwhelmingly pined for an Obi-Wan Kenobi spin-off.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi" starring Ewan McGregor premieres its first two episodes today on Disney Plus today (May 27).

The rest of the main cast includes Rupert Friend (The Grand Inquisitor), Moses Ingram (Seventh Sister), Sung Kang (Fifth Brother), Joel Edgerton (Owen Lars), Bonnie Piesse (Beru Lars), and Grant Feely (Luke Skywalker). Darth Vader will be a vital addition to the drama and speculation has run rampant that we'll see a confrontation with his former master, whose skills might be a bit rusty after ten years in exile. These heartless assassins report directly to the Grand Inquisitor and are headed up by Fifth Brother and Seventh Sister, who were previously introduced in "Star Wars: Rebels" Season 2.

The revelation that Princess Leia knew Obi-Wan Kenobi as a little kid is surprising. But this Star Wars canon twist doesn't create plot hole.

But, for the most part, the narrative focus of A New Hope is on Luke. What Obi-Wan Kenobi does is shift that narrative focus not only to Ben himself but also, to Luke’s sister. The new revelation that Leia was buddies with Obi-Wan when she was a kid isn’t just some cool canon twist. It also adds a tragic layer to everything that happens on the Death Star in A New Hope. Leia doesn’t get to reunite with Obi-Wan, and instead, just before escaping with Han and Luke, she sees him killed. However, when Luke breaks Leia out of her cell in the Death Star, he says “I’m here with Ben Kenobi,” and Leia doesn’t miss a beat. Leia is too smart to say “years ago, you rescued me from bounty hunters when I was a little kid.” Even after the fact, keeping Obi-Wan’s activities relatively secret, is still important. This is all an elaborate trap set by Inquisitor Reva (Moses Ingram) to capture Obi-Wan and bring him to Vader. However, it also establishes a relationship between Ben and Leia, which, prior to now, we never knew existed.

Want to watch the entire "Star Wars" TV and movie franchise (including the new "Obi-Wan Kenobi") in chronological order? Here's how to go about it.

The canon timeline suggests viewing the TV shows and movies in this order: The second is the canon timeline, a Disney-sanctioned chronology that discounts numerous things that the Legends timeline includes. One is the "Legends" timeline, a largely fan-led attempt to create a timeline that reconciles some of the contradictory timelines of various pieces of Star Wars media. Until fairly recently, a lot of Star Wars spin-offs were made by people who were not necessarily thinking about how their show or movie fit into the wider story. Obi-Wan Kenobi is the latest series in the ever-growing Star Wars franchise. And all the horrors that come with the Empire are being made manifest throughout the galaxy.

What was Obi-Wan Kenobi up to during those years when he was watching over Luke Skywalker after the Republic's fall in "Revenge of the Sith?"

That scenario also creates plenty of opportunities for callbacks that, in a theatrical setting, would have fans whooping and hollering. He watches the young Luke from a respectable distance, which is still too close to suit the boy's Uncle Owen (Joel Edgerton), who well remembers how he ended up with the lad in his care. Those considerations aside, the Disney+ series presents subscribers what feels like a wonderful distraction, no Jedi mind tricks required.

Obi-Wan Kenobi's two-part premiere is a surprisingly weighty introduction to an emotional Star Wars story.

The whole two-part premiere is full of this intertwined scripting; the links between Obi-Wan, Leia, her kidnappers, and Reva all make for a show that feels nicely coherent and planned. But chase sequences and shootouts so far feel simple and workhorse compared to the best of The Mandalorian’s action direction. I really like that Kenobi’s emotional path is mirrored by his physical one, and the match cut between his and Vader’s face at the end of the two-part premiere provided the perfect chilling indicator of this. This moment is the first nudge; Obi-Wan needs to return to the ways of the Jedi. He needs to help people. She helps provide a little levity among an otherwise surprisingly serious slice of Star Wars. The same can be said about Kumail Nanjiani, who brings his usual charm to grifter Haja Estree. On Tatooine he refuses to help another Jedi escape from the inquisition because he doesn’t want to risk his semi-selfish mission of watching over Luke. That Jedi’s corpse is next seen strung up in the streets in a shot that highlights Chow’s ability to bring darkness without being inappropriately violent for this kind of show. This promises a real treat of an emotional and physical showdown later down the line, and I hope Obi-Wan Kenobi can deliver on that promise. The two-part premiere opens a series that is surprisingly complex and unexpectedly mature; a slice of Star Wars that feels heavy and layered. But while vital to the journey, the ongoing hunt for the final surviving Jedi is just the broad picture. Opening as Order 66 is initiated, this is a show about living amid the death of one age, and the start of a darker one. His new camp on Tatooine has been established not to watch over Luke because he represents hope for the future, but through an inability to let go of one of the remaining links to his fallen brother. George Lucas envisioned the Empire as a reflection of many things, but Obi-Wan Kenobi really leans into the Nazi parallels.

Ewan McGregor is in top form as a broken and defeated Jedi facing a thrilling new adventure on Disney Plus.

Taking place between the end of Revenge of the Sith and the beginning of A New Hope, it's both a prequel and a sequel to a prequel. The story cleverly strips this beloved character back to a shell, and in the hands of an actor as good as Ewan McGregor it's a moving journey to watch. Where that borrowed from samurai classic Lone Wolf and Cub, the Obi-Wan series recalls Luc Besson's 1994 hitman classic Leon: The Professional. Which is surely deliberate, given that film starred Natalie Portman just a few years before she became the key character in the Star Wars prequels. But more than any recent Star Wars shows, it's built from Star Wars at its best (the original film) and Star Wars at its worst (the overblown, computer-effects-blighted prequel trilogy). And it follows the stodgy Book of Boba Fett, another tale of a familiar Star Wars mainstay which undid some of the goodwill around streaming hit The Mandalorian. It features Proper Movie Star Ewan McGregor wielding both a beard and a lightsaber, and focuses on one of the most engaging characters in the whole Star Wars saga. Obi-Wan Kenobi (the show) is an assured, pacey and exciting new series that knows just how to use familiar elements -- and, crucially, how to hold some back -- in a story that is, most importantly, character-driven.

Going into Disney+'s new Star Wars series, most fans suspected that the show would center on McGregor's exiled hermit as he helped to protect a young Luke on ...

The character is credited as an unnamed clone veteran, but we'll have to wait and see whether Morrison pops up anywhere else in Obi-Wan Kenobi. It's an interesting twist, and it's surprisingly moving to watch Obi-Wan interact with the daughter of his two oldest friends. Leia and Bail Organa aren't the only Star Wars veterans to make an appearance in the first two episodes, either. What Reva doesn't know is the real reason Obi-Wan is so keen to protect Leia: because she and Luke are the only children of Padmé and Anakin. Even at 10 years old, the young Leia is as bright and as headstrong as her adult counterpart, and she already knows how to deliver a savage comeback. (Watching Blair insult her snobby cousin feels a lot like watching Carrie Fisher spit venom at Grand Moff Tarkin in A New Hope… minus the random English accent.) The young Leia also seems as brave — and as stubborn — as her mom Padmé and her dad Anakin, and when Obi-Wan first meets her, he tells her that she reminds him quite a bit of a certain Naboo queen he used to know.

The dual-episode premiere of the first non-Mandalorian-based Star Wars Disney Plus series has arrived, Obi-Wan Kenobi, which has expanded its name from just ...

Ewan McGregor is finally getting something to work with in terms of a script, an upgrade from the prequels. Leia rebels against her stuffy upbringing, and appears to be exhibiting at least mildly force-like symptoms where she can read people’s fears to a certain extent, disguised as being observant. The series was given to Mandalorian director Deborah Chow, and so far, it’s going pretty well.

It doesn't break new 'Star Wars' ground but Ewan McGregor is a Jedi sort of 'John Wick' in his galactic return in new Disney+ series 'Obi-Wan Kenobi.'

If "Star Wars" fans are going to see a new angle to things they know, it should be with a beloved familiar face. Fans will get a kick out of familiar characters (especially one in particular) who show up in “Kenobi"; more impressive are the subtle reflections of well-known scenes that add thematic depth. While it doesn’t break any huge new “Star Wars” ground, at least not yet – we’ll see what happens in the next four episodes (streaming weekly beginning Wednesday) – the series nicely bridges the gap between the prequels and the original trilogy and hints at some political intrigue within the evil Empire.

The Grand Inquisitor death in Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 2 might have made Rebels non-canon.

Once the dust has settled, the Grand Inquisitor could be back on his feet – and on a one-way trip to appearing in Star Wars: Rebels. If not? Another wrote (opens in new tab), "He's alive in Rebels so.....what? I'm so confused." one viewer asked (opens in new tab), probably not without justification.

Seeing Temuera Morrison was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. I know you might not have been expecting to see The Book of Boba Fett actor again quite so ...

The clone would probably also have seen the bounties of him posted across the galaxy. This sad state of affairs has left many of the clones without their brothers or anywhere to go. We have part of this answer provided by the excellent series Bad Batch.

The comedian makes a memorable appearance in the new Star Wars series, 'Obi-Wan Kenobi.' Kumail Nanjiani plays Haja Estree in Episode 2 of the Disney+ show.

Unless Ben returns to Daiyu in a later episode, we probably won’t see Haja again in Obi-Wan Kenobi. It seems like his character arc was fully rendered by the start and end of Episode 2. The last we see of him is near the end of Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 2 after the Inquisitor read his mind in Daiyu. While that experience may have been jarring for Haja, we doubt it will stop him from continuing his Jedi con. It sounds like he’s found a lucrative way to help people, and it seems like it would take more than an alleyway confrontation to sway him from the grift. But before Ben even begins to threaten to out this deceitful business, Haja agrees to help Ben find Leia, and Ben has little choice but to trust the grifter. His appearance makes quite the impression, adding levity to a pretty dark show that follows the Galatic Empire’s Inquisitors hunting down and murdering Jedi. We break down Nanjiani’s new Star Wars character and his surprising twist at the end of Episode 2. Played by Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani, Haja Estree is a new addition to the Star Wars universe.

The Disney+ series' first two episodes see the legendary Jedi haunted and hurting — and tasked with an unexpected mission that calls back to the original ...

He implores the former Jedi to forget the past and to go after Leia. “You couldn’t save Anakin,” he says, “but you can save her.” His words do the trick, and as the episode ends, Obi-Wan’s headed off-planet to rescue Leia, his lightsaber on his hip. The next hurdle is Daiyu’s transport system, which has been shut down (presumably to keep Obi-Wan on the planet). Thankfully, Haja arrives just in time to guide them to a hangar where they can escape unnoticed. She couldn’t jump far enough to land on the building next to it, so she falls, and Obi-Wan must use the Force to save her. And across the galaxy, Lord Vader awakens and seems to sense his former Master through the Force. Dun-dun-dunnnnnnn! “We lost.” Despite that, he tells Owen ( Joel Edgerton) he still intends to train Luke to use the Force (a topic on which he and Owen disagree)… and he trades with the Jawas for trinkets for the kid. She assumes that Obi-Wan’s there to kidnap her too and runs off, leaving Kenobi to chase her through the neon streets of Daiyu. Instead, she alerts every bounty hunter on Daiyu about Kenobi’s presence, offering a reward and saying to report to her, not the Inquisitors, with him. Obi-Wan Kenobi “Part I” and “Part II” give the world-weary former Jedi a new mission in saving 10-year-old Princess Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) from a trio of mysterious kidnappers. The biggest thing to note from their scenes is that the Third Sister is, as the Fifth Brother puts it, “impulsive,” and despite telling her boss otherwise, she’s looking to track down Kenobi. Why? As she says, so she can “get [what] she’s owed.” Obi-Wan has a bad day at work and sees the Jedi who wanted his help hanged in the town square, and then he goes home to find Bail standing in his cave. He has a dirty (you know you reek when a Jawa comments on how you smell), lonely, sandy existence, plagued by nightmares about Anakin and his fall to the Dark Side. When he reaches out through the Force for Qui-Gonn’s ( Liam Neeson) guidance, he gets no reply. The ordeal gives Kenobi and a young, precocious Leia some cute bonding moments and, thank the Maker, gets the Jedi off of Tatooine. But since we know the princess will be fine in the end, at times the first two episodes wind up feeling like a prelude to the “main event”: the inevitable Kenobi vs.

Deborah Chow believes that 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' can be enjoyed by those who are unfamiliar with the 'Star Wars' films.

Disney's latest Star Wars spin-off show has been hotly anticipated for the return of Ewan McGregor as the Jedi Knight – and it mostly lives up to the hype, ...

Obi-Wan Kenobi runs the same risk here, but justifies itself by being the first Disney+ Star Wars series to feel like a main Star Wars story, rather than some offcut, with its centring of lead characters from the films. The closing shot shows a burnt and scarred Vader in a bacta tank, giving us our first glimpse of the returning Hayden Christensen, who reprises his role as Anakin. It's no secret that they will fight again in this series, which has attracted some concern that it could undercut the significance of their duel in 1977's A New Hope – again, making the universe feel smaller. A recurring problem with Disney's era of Star Wars spin-off films and TV shows has been that the more gaps they fill in the overarching timeline, the more backstory of big characters that is illuminated, the smaller and less interesting the universe becomes. Whatever the reason for it, this reappraisal is evidently a driver for the latest Disney+ Star Wars show, Obi-Wan Kenobi, a slick six-part series that seeks to explore what happened to the Jedi Master after the harrowing events of 2005's Revenge of the Sith. The show even begins with a recap of the prequels. Obi-Wan is eventually forced into action by episode one's big surprise: the kidnap of a 10-year-old Princess Leia, played with an endearing precociousness by Bird Box's Vivien Lyra Blair. Obi-Wan, who is one of the few people in the galaxy aware of her importance, is approached by her adoptive father Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits reprising his prequel role) to rescue her. This, of course, could simply be a case of millennial nostalgia, although I would say it is also founded on a valid sense of appreciation for movies that – while undeniably flawed in execution – are rich in the kind of cohesion and ideas that Disney's sequel trilogy sorely lacked.

Is this the vindication prequel fans have been looking for? For years, George Lucas's Star Wars prequel trilogy has been subjected to derision, cast as the ...

If The Mandalorian sometimes erred on the side of self-conscious spareness and The Book of Boba Fett was more a playful feast of characters, creatures, and action than a well-organized and well-paced story, the first episode of Obi-Wan seems to try for a just-right mix of the two, merging the sense of isolation with a more clear narrative direction. You were once a great Jedi.” In fact, when it comes time for Obi-Wan to reunite with familiar faces, like Luke’s Uncle Owen (Joel Edgerton) or Leia’s dad Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits), the show actually becomes clunkier and less expressive. It’s probably too much to hope that a saga-centric, legacy-character Star Wars series could ever allow real detective-style detours, but Obi-Wan tracking down a young Leia at least gets him back on a case (albeit one that’s a mystery only to him). Instead, it looks toward Alderaan, where a 10-year-old Princess Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) is already rebelling against her adopted parents, complete with her own sidekick droid, a nonspeaking Batteries Not Included–looking contraption called Lola. She’s soon kidnapped and taken off-planet for the first time in what turns out to be an attempt to lure Obi-Wan out of hiding. Despite being one of the longer episodes of Star Wars TV to date, this feels more like a complete (if obviously serialized) episode than much of Fett. And while none of these shows have really attempted to approximate George Lucas’s maximalism, Chow has a stronger command of quasi-western minimalism than Jon Favreau. But, hello there: Obi-Wan Kenobi is a whole other world of prequel affirmation, bringing back trilogy MVP Ewan McGregor and a number of other prequel actors to star in what is, essentially, a sidelong sequel to Revenge of the Sith. McGregor’s Obi-Wan has more breathing room, and the first chapter of his new story excels when it accumulates silent details and small interactions from his lonely routine. The Grand Inquisitor obviously enjoys speechifying to the citizens of Tatooine — he’s the one who coins the line about tracking a Jedi’s “trail of compassion” — while Reva has her sights set specifically on terrorizing her way toward Obi-Wan for reasons that are as yet unclear but thoroughly irritate her bosses. (The filmmakers were probably aiming for a jumble of imagery showing both their brotherly closeness and tragic outcomes, but I like to imagine Obi-Wan still wakes up in a cold sweat over Anakin’s reckless, sick-making pilot moves. Take Nari, for example, the excitable young lightsaber-wielder played by Uncut Gems filmmaker Benny Safdie: He’s mostly there to serve as a cautionary tale as he’s ferreted out by the Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) and his Jedi-hunting team, including the mysterious Reva (Moses Ingram), who takes her job very seriously. The connection is made explicit from the very first scene of Obi-Wan, which might as well be a particularly elegant deleted scene from Sith. Full-series director Deborah Chow (who helmed two episodes of The Mandalorian, among other big-name TV projects) opens with a previously unseen sequence of clone troopers attacking a Jedi and her youngling students. Yet through a combination of younger fans who grew up on these films and a general thirst for big-canvas fantasy movies with evidence of someone’s, anyone’s, personal sensibility, the trilogy has begun something of a reputational turnaround in recent years.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is now streaming on Disney Plus, and the six-episode-long series fills in the gaps between the original Star Wars trilogy and the prequels.

The dude looks rough (though better than I would after a decade of hard desert living), and one of the show’s highlights so far has been watching him wrestle with the hard-wired instinct to be a hero. This, it turns out, is all part of the Third Sister’s plot to lure Obi-Wan out of hiding by appealing to his inherent need to help people. Eventually, her propensity for running off gets her in trouble when a gang of outlaws (the leader of whom is played by Flea, the bass player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers) kidnaps her. She has no interest in the royal life, though, and spends most of her time shirking responsibilities to play with a cute droid named Lola in the woods. You don’t have to worry about midi-chlorians or Watto. All that matters is the tumultuous and tragic relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin. After the recap, the show then shifts to the tragedy at the Jedi Temple so that you remember why Obi-Wan is hiding. And for the first two episodes, at least, it works — Obi-Wan is playing the hits, reminding me why I actually care about Star Wars to begin with.

Disney Plus' latest Star Wars spin-off arrives with a somewhat surprising appearance from a certain princess.

And hey, the episode ends with Obi-Wan learning from Reva that Vader is indeed still alive, and we get a hard cut to a wrinkled and roasted Anakin floating in a tub with a breathing mask on. Extremely precocious and cute, like a Star Wars version of Anya from Spy X Family, and I like that her precociousness actually becomes a problem for Obi-Wan when she immediately figures out that he’s a Jedi and that the bad guys are coming after her to get to him. The good news is that the second episode is a lot more interesting and exciting than the first one, with Obi-Wan using the Game Boy Advance he stashed in his secret Jedi box to track Leia to Los Angeles from Blade Runner, or at least the Star Wars version of it. This is where the show runs into a bunch of Star Wars canon problems that it just creates for itself out of a desire to give Obi-Wan something to do beyond sit in a desert until the events of the original movie. Obi-Wan initially refuses, but after seeing Nari dead and strung up in the middle of town he gives in and agrees to break his oath to keep an eye on Luke so he can go save Leia. “The time of the Jedi is over, he says.” But, like Reva said, he’ll have to scratch that itch eventually.

How do you keep up the suspense in a story, when the audience already pretty much knows how it ends?

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In the latest Disney+ series to mine the Star Wars universe, Ewan McGregor once again steals the show as the title character — this time with a cute sidekick ...

You would not automatically think of Nanjiani as a Han Solo type, even after he got all swole to star in Eternals, but Star Wars projects almost always benefit from having a prominent character who’s more cynical about the mythos than the Skywalkers and/or the Jedi are. * Much was made of Rupert Friend being cast as the Grand Inquisitor, a figure who appeared multiple times on the Star Wars: Rebels cartoon. * Finally, the Mandalorian Season One cast was incredibly eclectic, with Werner Herzog, Nick Nolte, Taika Waititi, and other people you would not instantly expect to appear in a galaxy far, far away. Between this show and The Book of Boba Fett, someone on the Star Wars TV stunt team is really into parkour. Obi-Wan’s attempt to get back to who he used to be is the emotional core, and the best part, of this new show. And there is obviously always a concern that Lucasfilm can’t help itself from turning back to the Skywalkers again and again, even though that saga has very clearly exhausted itself(*). And after much hesitancy to use either his lightsaber or the Force, he manages, with much strain and barely enough result, to use the latter to save Leia after she falls from an ill-considered rooftop jump. The Inquisitors, for instance, seem fairly laid-back about letting Nari get away from them the first time, while the rooftop standoff in the second hour seems to end abruptly once Obi-Wan saves Leia, even though he appeared to be pinned down by enemy fire. Twice in the Obi-Wan premiere, our hero is offered a chance to become who he used to be. And Obi-Wan’s reawakening is a strong enough hook to pull the viewer through the parts of the show that don’t work quite as well. He seems almost afraid to touch the lightsaber he buried in the desert (let alone the one he took off of Anakin after leaving him for dead on a volcano planet). When young Leia later questions whether her would-be rescuer is even a Jedi at all, Obi-Wan does not look as if he is prepared to mount a stirring defense of the credentials he has long since allowed to lapse. “I’m not who I used to be,” Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Bail Organa late in the first episode of Obi-Wan’s self-titled Disney+ series.

The episodes were released days after the mass shooting that killed 21 at an elementary school in the Texas town.

In deleted scenes that have since been leaked online, Monica and Chandler get detained at an airport after Chandler makes a joke about a bomb on the plane. Some fans of the ABC sitcom Abbott Elementary took to Twitter in the wake of the tragedy to request that a school-shooting episode be written, which was quickly shut down by the show’s creator and lead Quinta Brunson. “people are that deeply removed from demanding more from the politicians they've elected and are instead demanding ‘entertainment,’” she tweeted. “I can't ask ‘are yall ok"’ anymore because the answer is ‘no.’ ”

Disney+'s 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' show, starring Ewan McGregor, tells not just Ben's origin story, but Leia Organa's.

Unlike many other “Star Wars” series, though, this one doesn’t need to try too hard to establish itself as something different. And so by the end of the second episode, “Obi-Wan Kenobi” sets the stage to become its own play on “The Mandalorian” dynamic, in which a formidable warrior begrudgingly takes on a gifted younger charge who will inevitably charm him into loyal submission. It helps, too, that “Obi-Wan Kenobi” takes a left turn from the perhaps more expected route of Ben keeping a close eye on 10 year-old Luke (Grant Feely) and his wary guardian uncle, Owen (Joel Edgerton, following Smits by reprising his role from the prequels). Instead, the first episode splits its time between Tatooine and Alderaan, where Luke’s scrappy twin Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) is doing her best to make stately princess life more interesting. In its first two episodes, which dropped May 27 on Disney+, “Obi-Wan Kenobi” takes a narrative leaf out of “The Last Jedi”’s book. The extensive recap of the “Star Wars” prequels that opens the new “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series is as utilitarian as it is canny. For as many “Star Wars” projects as there are in development, this one’s characters and mythology are the most directly tied to the original story that launched a thousand starfighters, making this show a bridge between one trilogy and the next.

On Friday, the first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi debuted on Disney Plus, with Ewan McGregor reprising his role from the Star Wars prequel movies, ...

Plus, studies have conclusively shown that using a lightsaber is the least reliable method of killing a Star Wars character. The Grand Inquisitor appears, definitely alive, in Star Wars: Rebels, which is set four years after Obi-Wan Kenobi, as one of the main antagonists. Well, the last time he saw Anakin, he had cut off his legs and left him grilled medium-well and still literally on fire, next to a river of lava. As Wookieepedia notes, “The Tiss’shar were known across the galaxy as shrewd, resourceful businessbeings,” and “ A large number of Tiss’shar found their way into the Corporate Sector.” Obi-Wan mentions that many of them are former Jedi themselves who have turned to the Dark Side. The Grand Inquisitor, for example, was a former Jedi Temple guard. That’s when the reptilian species known as the Tiss’shar first appeared, in the novel Han Solo at Stars’ End. That specific dino-guy appears to be a bounty hunter, but let it be known that not all Tiss’shar are bloodthirsty killers.

With a promise to reunite Kenobi with the Sith Lord Darth Vader, and introducing Vader's Inquisitorius into live action, fans are in for a thrilling story. The ...

The first two episodes are now streaming, with subsequent installments of the six-episode season premiering every Wednesday in June. - Get a refresher on the history of the character withObi-101 Obi-Wan Kenobi, the new limited series set between the events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: A New Hope, has arrived on Disney+! With a promise to reunite Kenobi with the Sith Lord Darth Vader, and introducing Vader’s Inquisitorius into live action, fans are in for a thrilling story.

UPDATED with Disney statement: Similarities between a horrible mass shooting at a Texas elementary school this week and a Jedi school massacre in Disney+'s ...

“In light of recent tragic events, we recognize there are certain scenes in this fictional series that some viewers may find upsetting and a content warning has been added to the show page,” a Disney spokesperson told Deadline today. The much-anticipated series dropped its first two episodes late Thursday, almost three days after 19 children and two teachers were killed in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The inclusion of the warning comes one day after rolling out Obi-Wan at the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim.

Disney+ added a warning to "Obi-Wan Kenobi" that some viewers may find "certain scenes" in the Star Wars series "upsetting."

But given the recent tragic shooting at a school in Texas, viewers may find the opening scene of episode 1 distressing. Warning: Contains violence involving children.” Disney+ added a warning to the page of “ Obi-Wan Kenobi” that some viewers may find “certain scenes” in the Star Wars series “upsetting.”

The new 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' series features a couple of hilariously unconvincing chase scenes.

How hard is it to deliver a solid chase scene in an adrenaline-packed space opera? This is the first time we’ve seen spent any significant time with young Leia, and she’s as whip-smart and sassy as her adult self. The first episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi shines a light on young Princess Leia, played by Lyra Blair, giving fans a glimpse of her life on Alderaan, which is doomed to be incinerated by the Death Star in the original trilogy.

The new series following Ewan McGregor's beloved take on the character is the best prospect the franchise has had in some time.

He’s pragmatic and direct, and Guinness’s distinctive, slightly nasal tenor gives him an air of amused detachment in any but the most dire of circumstances. Star Wars’ track record for prequels, or inter-quels, or whatever the hell Obi-Wan Kenobi is, is spotty, but the show has one major advantage on its side: Obi-Wan himself. Anyone with passing familiarity with Star Wars knows this; and while a story doesn’t need life or death stakes to be entertaining, there’s something curious about a sci-fi fantasy adventure series where the potential for consequences is largely existential.

What feels a bit like 'Taken' in space pivots to “'John Wick: Chapter 2' in space” territory — and it works! A recap of “Part Two” of 'Obi-Wan Kenobi,' the ...

(Well, from a certain point of view.) With Reva distracted by stabbing the Grand Inquisitor, Leia and Kenobi just barely escape thanks to a tip from Haja. Despite Kenobi’s disdain, there’s an unspoken irony here: At this point, Haja has done just as much to help as the real Jedi in this situation. Alas, the impressive menagerie of merchants and weirdos on Daiyu does not seem to include a single toydarian. A premise that looked, in the previous episode and the beginning of this one, a bit like Taken in space quickly turns into John Wick territory. Again, Obi-Wan Kenobi shows more mastery of its serialization than The Book of Boba Fett: The show leaves another planet and leaves its lead character with a major revelation about the friend-turned-enemy he once thought dead. Let’s not worry about the future, though; Obi-Wan has enough of that, with echoes of his past threatening to become deafening. This turns out to be Haja Estree ( Kumail Nanjiani), who uses a cocktail of buzzwords, misdirection, and magnets to create the impression that he is, well, exactly who some might hope Obi-Wan would be: an exiled Jedi with the power to help the downtrodden and oppressed. Obi-Wan Kenobi wants to relieve him of that burden and make him sound a little more, well, normal. (Today, we call them actors.) Yet the language of Lucas provided Obi-Wan with some odd grace notes, whether bringing humanity to the banter and bickering with teenaged Anakin, smug Jedi elan to his derring-do (“Hello there”; “Senator Palpatine, Sith lords are our specialty”), or flashes of self-doubt (“Oh no, not good,” he mutters just before a scuffle with Jango Fett sends him hurtling off a roof). Yes, there’s plenty of unwieldy exposition in the prequels, but McGregor has a way of clipping and refining it. The space between them is filled with Obi-Wan lampshading her precociousness by asking, “How old are you?” even though Leia’s age should be pretty well burned into his memory, considering he was present for her birth. (And he does, albeit for an exorbitant price and perhaps less physical safety than a real Jedi could offer.) Great concept, medium execution: Nanjiani is both amusing and a reminder that these new Star Wars shows are written by pro screenwriters, less prone to flights of bizarre, perhaps accidental poetry. For all of his imaginative gifts as a filmmaker, Lucas frequently seemed decidedly uncomfortable with both the music of human communication and the cursed flesh prisons he was (sometimes) forced to use to speak it. In its second episode, Obi-Wan Kenobi makes clear that this will not be Boba Fett redux, with Kenobi puttering around the sand, brokering alliances with various gangsters.

Obi-Wan continues searching for the bounty hunters on Daiyu. He's thrown off when he sees one of the 501st — Anakin's brigade — begging for money. These were the perpetrators of the atrocity at the Jedi Temple, ...

Reva catches up to them and Chow throws back to Return of the Jedi with Reva taunting Obi-Wan a la Darth Vader and Luke in Return of the Jedi. It doesn’t feel like a coincidence that the best Star Wars moments make for excellent callbacks. It takes Leia falling from a building for Obi-Wan to tap into the Force again. Now he knows Obi-Wan is alive and knows he survived their first clash as well. Ewan McGregor does an amazing job of conveying Obi-Wan’s devastation and underlined trauma rushing back to the forefront. As he listens to Leia take charge, Obi-Wan is bemused as he reflects on his dear friend Padme. Wanda might have gone through her share of grief in WandaVision, but Obi-Wan can match her tragedy for tragedy. In this case, Reva is desperately trying to unleash Obi-Wan’s fear after she drops the bombshell that Anakin survived. He definitely seemed to be playing it close to the vest when he asked her age. After the fake out, Obi-Wan does find Leia, who thinks he’s a little old to be a Jedi, let alone her sole rescuer. This scene accomplishes two goals — it shows Obi-Wan’s reluctance (fear?) of using The Force and that this former general actually had to struggle against a trio of bounty hunters. Obi-Wan continues searching for the bounty hunters on Daiyu. He’s thrown off when he sees one of the 501st — Anakin’s brigade — begging for money. I loved this sequence as we got to see more of the playful prequel Obi-Wan in action. Obi-Wan gets tricked by the bounty hunters and narrowly defeats them.

What we've got in this episode amounts to a fairly serious retcon of the relationship between Princess Leia and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

On the other hand, they give us Obi-Wan Kenobi walloping goons in a hallway like he’s Daredevil, and show us an Imperial Inquisitor parkouring her way across the rooftops like Catwoman, and, most importantly, give you a little jolt of Star Wars-iness you can consume in well under an hour, even if it’s best understood as glorified fanfiction rather than part of the seminal original series of films. You can probably square this away with how Leia reacts to his presence in A New Hope—her excited cry of “Ben Kenobi?!?” when Luke tells her the old Jedi is on the Death Star with them now feels more justified, for example—but speaking personally, I’d have kept him an aloof and mysterious figure. Thanks to the event of this episode, though, he’s now a person she would remember, recognize, and most likely treasure for rescuing her as a kid. What we’ve got in this episode amounts to a fairly serious retcon of the relationship between Princess Leia and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Previously, he was simply the legendary warrior to whom a desperate Leia reached out for help as Darth Vader’s forces attacked her ship. Following Leia’s father Bail’s instructions, Obi-Wan travels to the urbanized port-city planet of Daiyu—a sort of outer-space Hong Kong—where he almost immediately gains the help of a con man named Haja Estree, who pretends to be a Jedi both to help people and to pump them for cash. There’s still a lot of Obi-Wan Kenobi left in which the titular Jedi’s feelings about his old friend, and vice versa, can be explored.

'Obi-Wan Kenobi' may have finally fixed an inexplicable plot hole in 'Star Wars: A New Hope' that most people had just accepted.

The first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi were full of highlights and intense moments that no Star Wars fan has managed to wholly process just yet. Obi-Wan Kenobi depicts its titular protagonist as a broken hero who’s reluctant to get back into the fight. They even make a daring escape at the last minute, cementing that bond even further.

Obi-Wan Kenobi starts off with a strong series premiere with Ewan McGregor fully dialed in as the exiled Jedi dealing with the trauma of the Clone Wars.

McGregor was so universally beloved for his take on Obi-Wan that it was just a win seeing him back in the role. This was a powerful scene and further bridges the Sith Obi-Wan with the New Hope Obi-Wan, who twists facts to pit Luke against his father. McGregor largely got to be the dashing hero in the prequel trilogy and this series is calling on him to show the world-weary, broken hero trying to get his mojo back. Their leader is acting on orders from Reva, who shrewdly deduces kidnapping the daughter of Obi-Wan’s friend will lure him out of hiding. It shows how merciless this opening salvo against the Jedi was and the trauma it left behind. We see another perspective from the Order 66 attack on the Jedi Temple. It’s a blisteringly intense scene.

How do you keep up the suspense in a story, when the audience already pretty much knows how it ends?

Star Wars fans may still fall in love with a show that returns to a beloved fictional universe to tell an exciting new chapter. (Another bit of stunt casting, using the Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea as a thuggish kidnapper, didn't work quite so well.) Even though he looks like he'd gleefully squash any being on Tatooine dumb enough to get in his way, The Grand Inquisitor constantly heckles Sevander for being too impulsive and harsh. And don't get me started on how the Jedi Knights' robes, spirituality and lightsabers all feel like they were originally lifted from Asian culture without including many Asian characters. But when Sevander threatens Owen's life and the lives of his family, promising to kill them all if the community doesn't reveal where Kenobi is, we know that's not going to happen. Some of the mistakes are small.

Disney Plus's new Obi-Wan Kenobi show has a lot going for it, namely Ewan McGregor's performance free of a prequel-era George Lucas script, ...

Some people also didn’t like the Reva roof parkour in this sequence, which I suppose is not really an editing issue, but more of a choreography thing and story decision. Obi-Wan is forced to reach for the Force for the first time in a decade in order to ensure Leia doesn’t fall several stories to her death. I can see some sort of situation where they used this scene to have Leia expertly use her knowledge of the woods to evade the bounty hunters for a short time, but that’s not how this is cut.

For too long — and probably still — Star Wars has been unable to quit Luke Skywalker. The hero of George Lucas' original films, portrayed by Mark Hamill, was a ...

As of the end of episode 2, Obi-Wan is driven by a new purpose: To once again face Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), either to appeal to any lingering good in him or battle him now, as Darth Vader. In episode 1 we see Obi-Wan almost fail to give in to that compulsion, telling the Organas that he must stay on Tatooine instead of going after Leia’s kidnappers. A de-aged Hamill (action performed by Max Lloyd-Jones) was a pleasant surprise in “The Mandalorian” Season 2, but overwrought when he became the ostensible purpose of “The Book of Boba Fett.” There’s an unshakeable but not overpowering awareness that this character is emotionally manipulating viewers, but she’s cheeky and charming and pairs nicely with McGregor’s Obi-Wan at this specific moment in his life — and look at that little braided bun, come on. After one scene in which Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) spies on him from afar, child Luke is seen no more. About 23 minutes into the premiere of “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” an old Star Wars friend shows up.

SEC Network announcers Tom Hart and Kyle Peterson discussed Star Wars character Obi-Wan Kenobi during LSU & Kentucky's SEC Baseball Tournament game.

“Is it a movie? We’re guessing your reaction to this conversation goes one of two ways. It’s fair to say we’ve reached the point in our society where it’s okay to say you’ve never seen a Star Wars movie or TV show. “I’ve heard of some of the characters,” said Peterson. “What, uh…just give me the hook here,” asked Burke. “What’s the angle here?” But it’s still kinda impressive when someone has somehow avoided Star Wars ephemera to the point where they couldn’t even tell you what an Obi-Wan Kenobi is.

Bloodless violence has been a part of the Star Wars franchise since Grand Moff Tarkin showed off the might of the Death Star by turning Alderaan into space ...

A Disney rep also told Entertainment Weekly that the company is “also working to add an advisory in front of the series as quickly as possible.” This, coming as the nation is still in collective shock from the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, caused a bit of an understandable stir for a family-friendly television event. But as Obi-Wan Kenobi, the newest series from that galaxy far, far away made its debut this week on Disney+ and at Anaheim’s Star Wars Celebration pep rally, the timing wasn’t so hot for the first episode’s initial scene.

... but again the vocal minority roars, insisting the prequels aren't true to the original trilogy set in the space wizard political opera. But that's simply not true, because without the prequel trilogy, we probably wouldn't have Obi-Wan Kenobi.

It’s a nice reminder that this franchise is for absolutely anybody anywhere, that’s the whole point of being a franchise. Focusing on such an important character — in a time right between the two most consequential points in the Star Wars timeline (excluding High and Old Republic stuff because that’s its own monster) — allows director Deborah Chow to tell a story that welcomes newcomers and embraces returning fans. Some might scoff at the idea of a mini-series centered on a specific legacy character being a good entry point for newcomers, but Kenobi puts itself at a fairly nice advantage. But if Anakin Skywalker being Darth Vader is much of a surprise to anyone nowadays, that’s okay because it is to Obi-Wan too. A similar childhood vacationing in the galaxy far, far away, but a vocal distaste for the mediocre return to that galaxy and anyone who enjoyed the ride. Fans rush to theaters in droves on opening night, returning over and over to support the return of a franchise that just a little over twenty years ago engaged their childlike wonder. The recap serves as an occasional flashback for Obi-Wan, a traumatic nightmare of his past. The return of Ewan McGregor as Kenobi shows that Obi-Wan Kenobi acknowledges its legacy from the jump. The prequels, once the disdain of most, has now become the cult favorite of many — particularly the third and final film, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. An epic, tragic conclusion with a title that serves as a dark reflection of the original trilogy’s final chapter. Suddenly a mentor-type character has evolved into a lead, and one of the most beloved figures in Star Wars history. Fast forward to the better half of two decades and history repeats itself. All was worth it to be among the first to see Luke’s adventure come to a triumphant conclusion (for now).

Disney+ is the latest streaming service to add a warning label to some of its content in the wake of a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school.

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