We’re still a while away from Disney+ bringing Obi-Wan Kenobi back to Star Wars, though we’re excited about director Deborah Chow, but that hasn’t stopped the speculation train from running. While we know that Obi-Wan will be the star of the show, there have to be more characters to prevent it from just being Kenobi delivering soliloquies in the Tatooine desert.
Likely characters to include would be Luke’s aunt and uncle, who he lived with on the desert planet, and based on a recent interview, there’s a chance actor Joel Edgerton, who played uncle Owen Lars in the prequels, has already been approached about returning.
Caught up with Joel Edgerton today (check out THE KING! I really enjoyed). I have almost no doubt based on his coy evasiveness that he will be in the Obi Wan Disney+ series. I’ve seen many an actor playfully evade. I’m placing a big bet that Owen will be back.
— Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz) October 1, 2019
It wouldn’t surprise me if Owen played a role in the Kenobi series, given how the comics have Obi-Wan protecting the Lars family and Luke, but I also hope that, if Owen is present, aunt Beru plays a larger role, too. One of the few non-Leia women who have a speaking role in the original trilogy, Beru deserves her chance to shine. The anthology novel From a Certain Point of View lets her have her moment in the spotlight, but I’d love for her to have a major role in the series.
Perhaps Owen and Beru join up with Obi-Wan on a mission to keep Luke safe from some Tatooine-based threat. Along the way, Owen becomes disillusioned with Obi-Wan (perhaps due to Obi-Wan’s stories about what happened to Anakin) and more protective of Luke, while Beru has faith that maybe one day Luke will save the galaxy. After all, one of their few scenes in A New Hope shows Owen fearing Luke’s similarities to his father as Beru smiles fondly when she says that he has “too much of his father in him” to be happy as a moisture farmer.
Having Owen and Beru there, and giving Beru a more active role in the plot, would retroactively make us care more about their demise outside of being sad for Luke. In A New Hope, we’re upset because Luke is upset. If we know who Owen and Beru truly are, then our sadness will be more centered on them, rather than Luke. While we don’t need backstories for every Star Wars side character, Owen and Beru played a large enough role in Luke’s life that it would be nice to get a feel for who they are.
I also just want more Beru in general, because I love women in Star Wars, and I hope that the Kenobi series gets to feature some interesting, complex women. The potential in a character study like the Kenobi series might be to have some really introspective looks at Tatooine and its inhabitants, and hopefully they won’t just focus on the men in the story.
There’s room for both members of the Lars family to be in the Kenobi series. This series could be one of the best Star Wars stories, and I cannot wait to see how Obi-Wan’s Tatooine life unfolds, and whether or not we’ll get to see the Lars family be the stars of the tale for once.
(image: Lucasfilm)
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