Having narrowly escaped Jabiim, the transport ship of refugees is trailed closely by Vader in the Devastator. But there is a further wild card in the situation – Reva has barely survived her fight with Vader and has discovered the locations and identities of Vader’s children. Having lost Leia, Reva now goes to Tatooine to find young Luke Skywalker. Her unsubtle questioning of the locals gives Owen and Beru time to prepare to fight her when she arrives. Obi-Wan leaves the transport in a dropship, certain that Vader will break off his pursuit to follow him rather than the refugees. A furious lightsaber battle ensues, during which Obi-Wan is able to do critical damage to Vader’s life support suit. Perhaps realizing that, while Vader is dangerous, he remains vulnerable to his feelings and capable of major tactical errors as a result, Obi-Wan leaves him alive but unable to fight. The Jedi then races to the aid of Luke, whose peril he senses through the Force, but it is Reva who brings the boy back to Owen and Beru of her own accord. Ben tries to absolve her of her past, and tells her that her future is for her to decide now; her inability to kill a child as casually as Vader once did is a strength rather than a weakness. After ensuring that Leia has been returned to Alderaan, Obi-Wan returns to Tatooine, agreeing to keep his distance from the Lars homestead, but is surprised when Owen introduces him to ten-year-old Luke despite that promise. And with the recent reawakening of his mastery of the Force, Obi-Wan has one further surprise waiting for him as he goes back into exile.
teleplay by by Joby Harold & Andrew Stanton and Hossein Amini
story by Stuart Beattie and Joby Harold & Andrew Stanton
directed by Deborah Chow
music by Natalie Holt
Obi-Wan Theme by John Williams / adapted by William RossCast: Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Moses Ingram (Reva), Vivien Lyra Blair (Princess Leia Organa), Kumail Nanjiani (Haja Estree), Marisé Álvarez (Nyche), O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Roken), Maya Erskine (Sully), Joel Edgerton (Owen Lars), Bonnie Piesse (Beru Lars), Rupert Friend (Grand Inquisitor), Simone Kessell (Breha Organa), Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine), James Earl Jones (voice of Darth Vader), Jimmy Smits (Bail Organa), Hayden Christensen (Darth Vader), Hossein Mardani (Dardin Shull), Heath McGough (Foreman Groff Ditcher), Indie Desroches (Corran), Crispian Belfrage (Devastator Captain), Grant Feely (Luke Skywalker), Aiden Arnold (Jedi Youngling), Jonathan Ho (Jedi Youngling), Oliver Ho (Jedi Youngling), Yonas Ascuncion Kibreab (Jedi Youngling), Mila Lanin (Jedi Youngling), Ayaamii Sledge (Jedi Youngling), David St. Pierre (Supply Store Clerk performance artist), Dimitrious Bistrevsky (Darth Vader performance artist), Liam Neeson (Qui-Gon Jinn)
Notes: The “unmasking of Vader” scene is very similar to a scene that occurs in the Star Wars: Rebels episode Twilight Of The Apprentice Part 2 (2016), in which it is Anakin Skywalker’s former padawan, Ahsoka Tano, who destroys half of Vader’s mask in a lightsaber duel. (At least each of Anakin’s old friends destroyed different sides of the helmet.) The original storyline for Obi-Wan Kenobi featured Darth Maul, not Darth Vader, though it fell to Dave Filoni to point out that a final duel between Kenobi and Maul had already been depicted in the Rebels episode Twin Suns (2017), and there was therefore no need to depict it again (or create a conflicting version of events, something that happened frequently in the early days of the Clone Wars animated series and the related publishing program). Twin Suns, as with most of Rebels, occurs much closer to the events of Rogue One and Star Wars than those of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
LogBook entry by Earl Green