First Look at Obi-Wan “Old Ben” Kenobi on Star Wars Rebels

Since Star Wars Rebels Season 1, Episode 1, it’s been clear that Obi-Wan Kenobi’s influence would […]

September 5, 2017, 10:04pm

Since Star Wars Rebels Season 1, Episode 1, it’s been clear that Obi-Wan Kenobi’s influence would stretch far and wide across the series. Then in Season 2, Darth Maul returned to the scene, still seeking revenge against those who’ve slighted him – yeah, that would include Kenobi, if he were somehow still alive, right?

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Enter this year; when Maul and Ezra combined the Sith and Jedi Holocrons, Maul was looking for “Hope,” while Ezra sought the “key to destroying the Sith.” The pair of Force users saw twin suns, and Maul emerged from his Force vision saying “He’s alive!” gleefully. That sparked a lot of fan interest and speculation that Maul was talking about Kenobi – after all, he’s been holed up on a planet with twin suns, Tatooine, looking after young Luke Skywalker in secret. In the mid-season finale, we returned to that notion and confirmed the location. Now, it was only a matter of time.

Yes, Obi-Wan, in his “Old Ben” Kenobi guise, is coming to Star Wars Rebels for what’s presumably one last fight with Darth Maul. After his Jedi Holocron warning is issued on repeat throughout the trailer, the closing moments show Obi-Wan sitting alone, stoking the flames of a fire. It’s the perfect shot of the lonely man, sitting in the dark, but always maintaining that fire – the fire of the Force, the fire of the Jedi, the fire of Rebellion; he is both literally and figuratively the keeper of the flame in that moment.

An old enemy comes calling: Just Maul, no longer Darth, lightsaber in hand and anger in his glowing eyes. “You’re in the wrong place,” Kenobi says in a voice very reminiscent of the deceased Sir Alec Guinness. Without a word – in the trailer at least – Darth Maul ignites his lightsaber, and Obi-Wan stands, igniting his own and getting into his classic stance.

Stephen Stanton voices “Old Ben” on Rebels, Lucasfilm Animation PR confirmed to Comicbook.com. The actor has done quite a bit for Star Wars, voicing Grand Moff Tarkin on Rebels (and the younger Admiral Tarkin on Star Wars: The Clone Wars), the droid AP-5 on Rebels, and the voice of Admiral Raddus, the Mon Calamari leader in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (in theaters now).

Take a look at stills from the moment below, and get ready for Star Wars Rebels when it returns this Saturday, January 7 at 8:30 pm with a two-episode “Ghosts of Geonosis.”