All throughout Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series, we’ve seen as Obi-Wan has reached out to Qui-Gon. As we know from the Star Wars prequels, Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn was one of the first to become a Force Ghost despite not initially doing the familiar fade into the Force (like both Obi-Wan and Master Yoda do later in the original trilogy). So a big question throughout this series has been whether or not we’d see Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn return to give his former Padawan advice.
And the show did a pretty incredible job in bringing us the thought that we could see Qui-Gon again. With Obi-Wan talking to his Master through the Force from the first episode and then throughout the series, we thought there could be a possibility that we’d see Qui-Gon in his Force ghost form, and yet, now that we’ve reached the finale, does it ever happen before the end of Obi-Wan Kenobi?
Let’s talk a bit about the expectation of Qui-Gon appearing and what ended up happening throughout the series.
**Spoilers for the entire series of Obi-Wan Kenobi lie ahead.**
There is a moment in the finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi that surely feels like the moment that we’d get a glimpse of Qui-Gon Jinn—not because it screams like a lesson for Obi-Wan but, instead, it’s a moment that shows Ben what really matters to him. In the midst of fighting Vader and seemingly losing, he’s buried under rocks that Darth Vader keeps throwing on top of him, and when it seems like Obi-Wan needs a boost, it feels like (to me) a moment for Qui-Gon to give him guidance.
What we get was, instead, Ben thinking about Luke and Leia and arguably the good parts of Anakin that he still needs to protect, and he fights his way back to freedom in their honor. So whatever hope of seeing Qui-Gon I had started to dwindle, and it did make me laugh for a brief moment because I thought I was tricked into thinking I was finally getting Qui-Gon again. But no, Obi-Wan Kenobi had me covered, and it does still feature Neeson’s return to the Jedi Master.
Instead of when Ben is in dire straits, the moment comes when Obi-Wan is finding peace within himself. He returns to Tatooine and packs up his cave that he was living in, after going to visit Leia and tell her that he’ll always be there for her and that she reminds him of the good parts of both Padmé and Anakin. Then, after meeting Luke for the first time, Ben begins to search for a new place to start his life over (presumably the place where we see him living in A New Hope).
And there, on his journey, is when we see Qui-Gon waiting. “Well, took you long enough,” he says after Obi-Wan approaches him, and Ben even teases him back saying that he thought he’d never come. But Qui-Gon responds, “I was always here, Obi-Wan. You just were not ready to see. Come on, we’ve got a ways to go.”
And while I thought we’d have gotten Qui-Gon giving Obi-Wan the advice he needed or speaking to him when he was in his toughest moments, this inclusion of Ben’s old Master was worth the wait.
(featured image: Lucasfilm)
