With the April 4, 2022 release of the official trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi came a sea of new questions we have about the show. How much is Obi-Wan going to be facing off against Darth Vader in it? Will we get to see Luke Skywalker? How sad is Obi-Wan going to be? But what we got with this trailer was so much more than that. We actually began to understand more of what this show is about and honestly, with how painful this is show is going to be, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.
Breaking down the trailer is both helpful to me to emotionally unpack everything thrown at me at once and also to help look into the greater story that the show is going to tell us.
The Grand Inquisitor
Our Brittany Knupper already broke down who the inquisitors are in Star Wars, and this trailer gave us a pretty clear motive for the Rupert Friend character: bring Obi-Wan to Darth Vader. “You still want Kenobi? He’s gone,” we hear, and while there are other characters determined to find the Jedi and bring him to Darth Vader, it seems as if the Inquisitor is trying to find reason with the Sith Lord.
Obi-Wan and Owen
A real punch to the gut came from Uncle Owen telling Obi-Wan to leave them alone. The last we saw of Obi-Wan, he was left on Tatooine to look after Luke Skywalker from afar. In the trailer, he seems to be even more of a watchful eye than he was in the original trilogy. But his looming nature seems to be enough to force Owen to tell him to back off.
The painful bit is when Owen throws what happened to Anakin in his face. “Like you trained his father?” he says to Obi-Wan trying to reason with him about Luke’s “eventual” training. And it hurts because you can see how much it effects Obi-Wan. He’s clearly still upset about what happened and if that was a slap in the face for us as fans, it can only mean its ten times worse for the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Reva
Reva, in the trailer at least, is working for the Empire and a woman who is willing to do what Vader asks of her: Find Obi-Wan Kenobi. Whether or not she knows he’s out there or is just determined to rise in the ranks of the Empire, she is putting herself in the good graces of Vader to find his old master.
Now, we know from A New Hope that Obi-Wan clearly survives whatever is coming his way but it’s going to be interesting to see how Reva plays into it as a character hunting the Jedi and working for Anakin.
The Empire vs. Obi-Wan
Focusing on just the live-action world, from Revenge of the Sith on, Obi-Wan has been an “enemy” of the Galactic Empire. Not only because he is a Jedi but because he was the former Master of Anakin Skywalker. I’m sure somewhere in the galaxy, there are other Jedi hiding away. In fact, we know that Yoda is hiding away and yet it doesn’t seem like Anakin is looking for him. Just for Obi-Wan.
So no matter where he goes, he’s being hunted because of his “brother”.
“You can’t escape him”
Hearing Darth Vader breathing in this trailer sent a chill up my spin I haven’t felt since he turned on his red saber in Rogue One. It’s that fear we all had of him come to life once more and this time, we know it will be met with the pain that Anakin and Obi-Wan have endured together.
He can’t escape Anakin but Anakin can’t escape Obi-Wan either. Clearly. The two could live their lives separate from each other but they’re drawn back to their shared history and even if Obi-Wan didn’t want to stop Anakin, I think he’d still try to reason with him in some way. They’re connected, whether they like it or not.
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Obi-Wan Kenobi hits Disney+ on May 27th and this has been 17 years in the making and I can’t wait.
(image: Lucasfilm)
