Obi-Wan Kenobi Writer Addresses Those Inquisitors Star Wars Fan Theories

These are not the answers you’re looking for. Obi-Wan Kenobi head writer and executive producer Joby Harold is Jedi handwaving away Star Wars fan theories about dark side villains the Inquisitors, including the origins of Reva the Third Sister (Moses Ingram) and the fate of the Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend). Some fans posed a theory that Reva is the youngling visible in the opening minutes of Obi-Wan Kenobi “Part I,” set during a prequel era flashback to Order 66 and the clone army’s attack on the Jedi Temple. A decade after Revenge of the Sith, the suspected former padawan hunts the surviving Jedi for Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen), the Sith Lord who Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) believed to be dead.

“I won’t speak to that,” Harold told The Hollywood Reporter when asked if the youngling was Reva, “but I will say that Reva is a character that I find to be fascinating. Moses has done amazing things with her.” 

Asked to explain how Reva knows that Darth Vader is Anakin Skywalker — a secret she revealed to Obi-Wan to end “Part II” — Harold hinted answers would come in the remaining three episodes.

“I love that Reva is this mystery box, so I try to speak to her as little as possible, and I’m going to keep it that way,” he said of the original character created for the series. “But the notion of having a character that we don’t know on a legacy show where we do know everything and everybody is part of the fun of the show. So the less said about her, the better, considering there are very few people and places where you don’t know what’s happening.” 

Another question is whether the apparent death of the Grand Inquisitor conflicts with the established Star Wars canon.

Reva’s red-bladed lightsaber impales the Grand Inquisitor’s stomach in “Part II,” seemingly killing him and contradicting his fate in Star Wars Rebels, the animated series set closer to the timeline of A New Hope. (Some fans have cited trivia that the Grand Inquisitor’s species, Pau’ans, have two stomachs, making it possible his apparent death on Obi-Wan was not as fatal as it appeared.) 

Asked whether Obi-Wan‘s Grand Inquisitor and the Grand Inquisitor of Rebels (voiced by Jason Isaacs) are one and the same, Harold evaded the question.

“I know there’s speculation about that, but I won’t speak to that beyond saying that Rupert is just a champ in his articulation of the character,” he said. “I love the rhythm of what he does with the voice for a character who’s that physically intimidating. He looks like a tank, but he speaks with such lyricism. So that juxtaposition is unique and interesting, and he’s not the aquiline, thin, sinewy school teacher-y, creepy guy. So I love what he did with the character.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi “Part IV” premieres Wednesday, June 8 on Disney+. 

Starring Ewan McGregor, Moses Ingram, Rupert Friend, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Indira Varma, Sung Kang, Grant Feely as young Luke Skywalker, Vivien Lyra Blair as young Leia Organa, and Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader, new episodes of the six-part Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi are streaming on Wednesdays.