Star Wars Eras The Obi-Wan Kenobi Spinoff Could Explore

Word came down today that Obi-Wan Kenobi will indeed star in one of the Star Wars stand-alone movies, and almost immediately fans were excited by the prospect of more Ewan McGregor in the role, and wondering what the movie might be like.

Of course, there is no guarantee that McGregor will be in the role at all, but it stands to reason: he was a popular part of the prequels, and has remained so even as the prequels themselves have become less universally beloved in the time since their release.

He has also maintained a steady answer of “yes” for years now when asked (repeatedly) whether he would like to go back to a galaxy far, far away.

So excuse us if we geek out a little bit and assume/hope/take for granted that one of our favorite actors will be returning to a role we always loved him in. It’s what geeks do.

Anyway, that still leaves the question of what the movie will be about — and since we know pretty much everything that happened (in the broadest possible terms) from the time Obi-Wan Kenobi was recruited into the Jedi Order until his death at the hands of Darth Vader in the first movie, what that really means is which holes they will choose to fill with a solo film.

So…what era of Obi-Wan’s life could they take a deep dive into?

Let’s think about that, shall we?

Jedi Training

A prequel to the prequels might be a difficult sell, what with Ewan McGregor being 20 years older now than he was in Phantom Menace — except for the fact that he has that John Cusackian lack of aging on his side.

In any event, what we are getting out of the Han Solo movie appears to be an origin story, so why not do one for Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Getting a chance to see Liam Neeson return as the wise and lovable but mostly undeveloped Qui-Gon Jinn would be worth it all on its own, but seeing the events that shaped Obi-Wan to be one of the greatest heroes of his generation has a certain appeal to it even if we didn’t get all the cameos we might hope for.

The only downside to it would be that the prequel trilogy centered on Anakin’s training; the original trilogy, on Luke’s; and the sequel trilogy, seemingly on Rey’s. That means there may be a bit of hesitation to do a tenth movie that centers on training a Jedi.

That said, if the writers could find a truly unique twist on the origin story, it could be worth a try. The Skywalker legacy is a unique animal since they have the Messianic overtones that other Jedi would not be saddled with. That means on Obi-Wan movie could still be more like Rogue One (featuring characters who don’t play a huge role in the Skywalker saga) than The Force Awakens.

The Clone Wars

Fans have obviously seen plenty of stories from the Clone Wars in…well, Star Wars: Clone Wars, the long-running animated series that is in its final season. 

Obi-Wan Kenobi is not a main character in that show, but he has been known to pop up from time to time, so there is a pretty good timeline of events in the life of Obi-Wan during this important era of the Empire’s rise to power.

This is one of the periods in the Star Wars mythology that is most dear to hardcore fans, and its invocation in the first movie implies that for most of the time it was going on, Obi-Wan and Anakin stayed fairly close. That could mean that if we were to get this movie, Hayden Christensen would have to be involved. That would likely not be a dealbreaker, but he has not been as actively and excitedly willing to come back as McGregor has.

That said, who would not want to see the debonair, badass verison of Obi-Wan seen in Clone Wars come to live action…and maybe bring a few fan-favorite characters to life with him?

Hiding Out on Tatooine

The longest period of time that’s largely unaccounted for in Obi-Wan’s life, and the one that could be the most interesting to explore, is the time when he was hiding out on Tatooine, watching out for Luke Skywalker.

We know that he was there for decades, and while he clearly remained committed to his mission it is difficult to imagine that someone with a moral compass as strong as Obi-Wan’s could completely divorce himself from the ever-worsening conditions of the Empire.

Seeing how Obi-Wan functioned, Unabomber-like, presumably helping to undermine the Empire without ever being caught while living in a cave in a remote outpost in the middle of nowhere space seems like it has a ton of potential to be a “different kind of movie.” Like the buddy-adventure movie that seems to be taking shape from Han Solo or the war movie that was Rogue One, an Old Ben Kenobi movie could be something totaly different than what we see in most Star Wars films…

…and if they really wanted to, they could stick to the Rogue One/Han Solo approach of having zero light saber action in it.

Bonus: Padme

We are not exactly sure when this would fit into the timeline, but it’s worth noting that one of the most interesting fan theories about the Star Wars prequels contends that Obi-Wan and Padme were secretly a couple, which could explain the lack of chemistry between Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen as well as several minor plot points and character beats from throughout Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

While it is unlikely Disney/Lucasfilm would make this little piece of “fanon” an official part of the greater Star Wars mythology, it was (as noted in the video above) something that was planned as a larger part of the tapestry of the prequel trilogy when it was conceived.

Well, not the affair itself but Anakin’s jealousy of it. To our knowledge, nobody has ever said the affair really did happen, or ever was really intended to be canon.

Either way, it seems unlikely this will be explored. Why? Natalie Portman does not seem to have a ton of patience for shared universe movies, and the idea of bringing her back as Padme all these years later feels like a very, very long shot. Heck, even her Thor role, which came a decade later, is not something she seems particularly keen to revisit.

That said, if the Obi-Wan movie happens in between the moments of the prequel movies, one hopes that his relationship (whatever it is) with Padme is at least touched upon.