Obi-Wan Kenobi writer Joby Harold has teased that the series’ titular hero will be faced with some major challenges when he returns this summer.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Harold discussed the time period and what to expect when the show releases.
“It takes place 10 years after Revenge of the Sith, in a time of darkness in the galaxy. The Empire is in the ascendancy. And all the horrors that come with the Empire are being made manifest throughout the galaxy. And the Jedi Order as we know them are being all but wiped out. So everything that was in the prequels has crumbled.
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.”
In short, our dear Obi-Wan will not have it easy. This time period the show takes place in is called the dark times, and it lives up to its name. For thousands of years, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic, until Darth Vader and the Empire rose to power and changed everything.
From the Obi-Wan Kenobi trailer, Ben looks defeated after the destruction of everything he believed in and being hunted by Inquisitors. He looks at a young Luke Skywalker from a distance, but at this point, he’s too young to claim his rightful destiny.
Order 66 was seen in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and saw the orchestrated execution of Jedi deemed as traitors to the Galactic Republic. In Obi-Wan, Vader’s (Hayden Christensen) presence will be felt heavily, as he’s the one in charge of overseeing the destruction of the fallen Jedi order.
Harold shared what it’s like for Obi-Wan to live during this time and the challenges he’ll face on his journey.
“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 onto it and hoping to regain that faith within that sort of hopeless world.
Within that environment and that galaxy, his faith is tested. 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 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’s good to know that the dark times will eventually come to an end and there is hope down the line. Obi-Wan will have to go through hardships and carry the guilt of his Padawan falling to the Dark Side, but Luke Skywalker represents the renewed hope of a universe that’s no longer in the clutches of Vader. It will just take some fighting and sacrifices to get there.
The first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi premiere on Disney Plus May 27.
