Ewan McGregor Explains Why Yoda Hasn’t Appeared in Obi-Wan Kenobi

Warning: this story contains spoilers for Obi-Wan Kenobi. “Until the time is right, disappear we will,” says Jedi Master Yoda (Frank Oz) in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. And disappear, they have. After they fail to destroy the Sith Lords Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) and Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen), Yoda and Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) retreat into exile: Yoda to the swamps of Dagobah, and Obi-Wan to the sands of Tatooine. By the time of Obi-Wan Kenobi — beginning a decade after the events of Sith — “Ben” Kenobi is the silent and solitary guardian of a young Luke Skywalker (Grant Feely), twin brother of Alderaan’s Princess Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair). 

In their parting meeting ten years earlier, Yoda revealed his training for Obi-Wan while in solitude on Tatooine: to study the secrets of the Ancient Order of the Whills and learn how to communicate with his old master, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson). But by the time of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ben has been unable to make contact with Qui-Gon, having cut himself off from the Force to hide from the Empire’s Jedi-hunting Inquisitors.

“All he’s got left is to look after Luke Skywalker. That’s all he’s got left, really, and to try to communicate with his old master, Qui-Gonn, in his spiritual life,” McGregor said in an interview with The Jess Cagle Show. “But he can’t reach out to any of his old [mentors]. He can’t reach out to Yoda, he can’t reach out to any of the surviving Jedi for fear of giving himself away.”

A decade after the Emperor ordered the Great Jedi Purge with Order 66, McGregor explained, “If a Jedi uses the Force in this period of time, the Inquisitors are going to be able to sense that, and they’re going to know where you are. It’s like using your phone or something, I guess (laughs). It’ll ping off a tower somewhere if you use the Force.” 

It remains to be seen if Ben makes contact with Qui-Gonn or Yoda in the Obi-Wan Kenobi finale, “Part VI,” now that he’s been drawn out of hiding by the Inquisitor Reva the Third Sister (Moses Ingram). Obi-Wan Kenobi “Part VI” is streaming Wednesday, June 22 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, episodes of Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi are now streaming.