Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobiis currently streaming on Disney Plus, and so far it’s been positively received. Now, writer Joby Jarold has confirmed a theory about Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren.
Star Warshas yet to dive more into the recent sequel trilogy with any of its recent series, but the Disney Plus shows are laying down the foundation to contextualize what fans have seen in the movies. The biggest one is theconnection between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Leia. Fans remember that Leia reached out to Obi-Wan and was already familiar with him when she was in trouble during the opening moments ofEpisode IV.There’s also one more component to it that fans may not have noticed.
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A lot of the recentStar Warsmedia has stayed around the timeline of thefourth through sixthStar Warsfilms, and it only helps build more context. Harold, the head writer ofObi-Wan Kenobi,has spoken about this aspect when talking to The Hollywood Reporter. “It was very helpful to know where they were going because it answers the question of, ‘Why him?’ So, ‘Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope,’ feels less arbitrary as a choice and a decision now that we know the depth of the history they have together,” the writer continues to explain. “The context within which Leia says that in A New Hope is now canon, and it’s clear.”
The writer also points out that Leia’s son has the birth name of Ben beforedonning the Kylo Ren mantle. Ben was the alias Obi-Wan used while in hiding, and now that he and young Leia have spent a considerable amount of time together, it makes sense that she would name her son after him. “So it will be articulated as the show continues, but I liked the fact that it helped reinforce and better articulate a little piece of the jigsaw that is already in place. If you watch all of the Star Wars stories in a row right now, you’d be like, ‘Of course, she’s going to go to Obi-Wan,'” Harold continues. “She also ends up naming her son, Ben [Adam Driver]. So I liked the fact that he was a big component in her life, as much as he was in Luke’s life up until now…It felt right after everything that happened with Anakin and those two children that he would be there for both children, to the degree he now has been in canon.”
Obi-Wan is clearly trying to make amends for where he feels he lost. The guilt ofAnakin becoming Darth Vaderand all the lives Vader has taken eats away at Kenobi. He couldn’t bring himself to kill his Padawan and now the galaxy is paying the price. This level of storytelling and depth of human emotion can only be displayed in a television show for theStar Warslore because there isn’t a two-hour time limit.
It’s cool to seeStar Warstaking its storytelling much more seriously than it might’ve previously. Now that the shows are making more progress towards depth and hitting a wider reach, it’s only up from here. Maybe the live-action shows can correct the “mistakes” of the last three films similar to how the animatedClone Warsseries fixed a lot of the issues with the prequel trilogy.
