One of the major recurring criticisms of Star Wars‘ Disney era is that everything ends up being tied to the Skywalker family in some fashion, which only serves to make a universe with an infinite number of storytelling possibilities feel smaller each time we get a new feature film or episodic installment.
The Sequel Trilogy boiled the entire nine-film saga down to a generational conflict between the Skywalkers and the Palpatines, while The Mandalorian brought Luke back for the Season 2 finale in what was an admittedly awesome Mark Hamill cameo, but one that only served to increase the size of the shadow cast by the franchise’s premiere clan.
Of course, Obi-Wan Kenobi is inextricably linked to the Skywalkers by virtue of taking place in between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, finding Ewan McGregor’s title hero in the period of his life after he turned Anakin into a smoldering pile of limbless goo, but before he pitched up with Luke and taught him the ways of the Force.
A recent rumor making the rounds claimed that young Bird Box and We Can Be Heroes actress Vivien Lyra Blair had been cast as Princess Leia, and it also posits that she’s set to be the driving force behind the entire narrative as the catalyst that forces Obi-Wan to end his self-imposed exile, which will somehow culminate in the rematch of the century between the legendary Jedi and his former Padawan Darth Vader.
We’d heard before that child versions of Luke and Leia may be involved in Obi-Wan Kenobi, but it would at least mark a change of pace to shift the focus over to the latter for a change should the latest information pan out.
