Obi-Wan Kenobi Writer Explains Complicated Dynamic Between Anakin and Obi-Wan

So, we all remember the bad things, like when the Jedi were slaughtered in Revenge of the Sith thanks to Order 66. Poor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) watched his Jedi padawan, Anakin, murder a bunch of children, force-choke his own wife, and attempt to defeat someone on higher ground. We all know how far that gets you. All that, and it turns out the Clone War was just a huge manipulation by a Sith Lord to take power and eradicate the Jedi. Now here comes the aftermath of that because it definitely caused emotional damage.

Obi-Wan Kenobi = Emotional Damage

Obi-Wan Kenobi will pick back up after those events, and the mood carries over. Joby Harold, Obi-Wan Kenobi writer states. “It takes place 10 years after Revenge of the Sith, in a time of darkness in the galaxy,” Harold tells EW. “The Empire is in the ascendancy, All the horrors that come with the Empire are being made manifest throughout the galaxy. And the Jedi Order as we know is being all but wiped out. So everything that was in the prequels has crumbled.”

From the sound of that, everything happened for no reason or just crumbled into nonexistence. As if it was not brutal enough for the Republic-turned-Rebellion to watch everything go to shambles in Episode III, it seems that they’ve had to sit and watch the dark side consume all that it touches in both inner and outer layers of the galaxy for a decade. Harold explains, “Those surviving Jedi, those that do survive are on the run and they’re in hiding. And Vader and his Inquisitors are chasing them to the end of the galaxy.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi will pick up with our titular hero still on Tatooine. Harold says, ” Within that hopeless fatalistic world, we find possibly the most famous of all our surviving Jedi in hiding struggling with that faith that defines the Jedi, and wanting to hold into it and hoping to regain that faith within that sort of hopeless world.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi will be the transition from the hopelessness of Revenge of the Sith to A New Hope.

Harold says, “And he goes on a journey that allows him to travel from that character that we saw in the last of the prequels, where [McGregor] really felt like he was embodying Obi-Wan Kenobi to a pretty extraordinary degree, and ends with him as the more finished article that Sir Alec Guinness gave to the world in A New Hope. And so in this very specific time in the history of Star Wars, when the Jedi are on the run, we get to sort of stand next to and watch Obi-Wan as he runs the gauntlet and has to survive a pretty extraordinary experience.”

It seems like getting to the place of the zen master we see in Episode IV will not be easy, especially for a guy who is not only dealing with the pain of losing his star pupil to the dark side and still feels the guilt from that. He will also have to come to terms with leaving that past friend burning to death on Mustafar after chopping off his three remaining limbs.

Harold states, “Obi-Wan is defined by his past to a pretty great degree, I mean, Obi-Wan and Anakin [Hayden Christensen] share so much screen time together. They’re so close that everything that he’s experienced and everything that happened with Anakin cannot help but define him. And we meet a man who’s very much defined by that history, whether he wants to be or not.”

We know how Obi-Wan handles his history will be the key to helping him emerge from hiding and face the dark side again. Harold adds, “Part of the journey of what he goes through is reconciling that past and coming to understand it and coming to understand his place in it.” Harold goes on to say, “And that journey and the places he has to go emotionally as well as physically, and some of those battles he has to fight, are very much to do with facing that past and understanding who he was, his part in his own history, in the history of others.”

All this history will hopefully play out when Obi-Wan Kenobi debuts May 27th on Disney+. We are excited to see more of the emotional side of his story and how it all plays out in the end.

What do we think about Obi-Wan Kenobi getting his chance to shine? What are some tragedies you are not looking forward to visiting again? Do you think there will be a showdown between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader? Let us know what you think down in the comments below or on our social media!