Obi-Wan Kenobi: The biggest highlights from the trailer

The wait is finally over. During the 2022 Disney Shareholders Day live stream, the first teaser trailer for the long-awaited Star Wars Disney+ series, Obi-Wan Kenobi, was released. Ewan McGregor reprises his role from the prequel trilogy as the titular character. Also making his return to Star Wars for the first time since 2005 is Hayden Christensen, who will be reprising his role as Darth Vader. The limited series is set to premiere on Disney+ on May 25.

The series takes place during the time period between Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The Jedi are in hiding and Obi-Wan is in exile on Tatooine looking over a young Luke Skywalker and protecting him from being discovered by the Empire.

The original script is written by Joby Harold while Deborah Chao, who is most known for her work on season 1 of The Mandalorian, is confirmed to direct all six episodes. Legendary composer and Star Wars regular John Williams is also set to compose the score.

Now, let’s get into the trailer. There’s a lot to talk about.

Obi-Wan Kenobi trailer features a young Luke Skywalker

Right off the bat, we hear a voice-over from Kenobi saying “The fight is done. We lost. Stay hidden,” and the camera cuts to Obi-Wan looking over the famous Lars’ homestead from afar. This line of dialogue is obviously referring to the ending of Revenge of the Sith, where he and Yoda agree to accept the defeat of the Jedi Order and stay hidden until the time is right.

Here, we get our first glimpse of a young Luke Skywalker. We even get to see Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse as Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, who are also reprising their roles from Revenge of the Sith. 

We then hear the iconic John Williams score, “Duel of the Fates,” play throughout most of the trailer. Fans will immediately recognize the track from the epic fight scene in 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I -The Phantom Menace. For most people, including myself, the nostalgia alone from hearing that tune was enough to satisfy me for the entire trailer.

Obi-Wan Kenobi trailer teases The Grand Inquisitor

Another reveal of the trailer is seeing The Grand Inquisitor, who is portrayed by Rupert Friend. The Grand Inquisitor is a character from the animated show Star Wars: Rebels, who is finally set to make his live-action debut. Additionally, we see other Inquisitors appear, including the Fifth Brother.

For those who aren’t familiar with the animated shows, Inquisitors are assassins commissioned by the Empire to hunt down and kill the surviving Jedi from Order 66. My guess is that the Grand Inquisitor and Darth Vader will be the two main antagonists of the series. I can see Vader and the Grand Inquisitor teaming up to try and find Obi-Wan. After all, there has been a tease of Obi-Wan and Darth Vader dueling again in this series based on some official concept art released by Disney.

The Grand Inquisitor‘s inclusion in the show adds to the list of characters from the canon animated series’ who have recently been adapted into the live-action projects. Ahsoka Tano, Cade Bane, and Bo Katan are a few examples of characters from The Clone Wars who have made their debuts recently in live-action projects such as The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Now the Inquisitors seem to be joining in on the action.

Obi-Wan Kenobi trailer gives us a look at different locations

Lastly, another notable highlight of the trailer is that we get to see a cool new planet that looks like it’s stripped right out of Blade Runner — and I’m all for it. It should be cool to see Obi-Wan travel off-world at some point and see how he will manage to cope with leaving Tatooine and not being able to keep a watchful eye on Luke.

The trailer ends with the sound of Darth Vader’s breathing — and unfortunately, that’s the only bit of him we get throughout the entire teaser. I must admit I am a little shocked that Lucasfilm didn’t reveal anything more of Vader, but you can bet we will see him in the official trailer that releases closer to the series’ release date.

How excited are you for Kenobi compared to the other Star Wars projects? Let us know in the comments below!

Obi-Wan Kenobi is available to stream on Disney+ starting May 25, which also happens to be the 45th anniversary of the release of A New Hope.