Review: Lucasfilm's OBI-WAN KENOBI Is Fantastic and Everything That I Hoped It Would Be!
Star Wars Celebration had a big surprise for fans in attendance when they announced that they would hold the big world premiere of the first two episodes of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series at the event and all of the fans were invited to attend! Of course, I had to go! It’s not every day you get to sit in an auditorium filled with hardcore Star Wars fans and watch the premiere of a Star Wars project with the cast and crew in attendance!
It was such an awesome experience being able to watch the first two episodes with fellow fans because the energy in the room was just explosive! As we were watching the story play out, the auditorium was filled with cheers, laughter, wows, and, of course, lots of oohs and ahhs. I love those kinds of viewing experiences, and they don’t happen as often as I’d like.
Beyond the experience of watching the two episodes of the show with fans, the series itself is fantastic! It was everything that I hoped it would be. I would say that it completely met my expectations, which were pretty high. I know a lot of fans were wondering what kind of story they would be able to tell with Obi-Wan as a hermit on Tatooine, but boy oh boy, do they have a story to tell and I can’t wait to see how the rest of it plays out!
I won’t get into the details of the story, as I’ll let you experience it for yourself. What we already know, is that the series is set 10 years after the events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, where Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) faced his greatest defeat—the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), who turned to the dark side as the evil Sith Lord Darth Vader. This is something that Kenobi is not aware of, he doesn’t know that Anakin is alive.
Kenobi is really struggling with himself in this series as he is committed to looking after Luke Skywalker. During this time, the Inquisitors are hunting down and killing the Jedi, and one Inquisitor in particular, Reva, who’s played by Moses Ingram, is hell-bent on finding Kenobi and bringing him to Vader.
Ingram is freakin’ fantastic in this role, and she’s absolutely menacing! She is an Inquisitor that is off the hinges, and she makes for a great villain! I wasn’t expecting to love this character so much, but she’s so fascinating and so sinister! It’s hard not to like her!
It was also so cool to see McGregor back in the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi after all these years. He is so great in that role, and to see his story continue is just something special, that I honestly never thought we’d see. I really appreciate how they are handling him. These first two episodes pretty much set up his journey, and it’s going to be a wild one! This is a journey that is definitely going to test his skills and his mental state.
One other character I want to talk about is young Princess Leia, who is played by Vivien Lyra Blair. Blair is incredibly charming and delightful as Leia! She just lights up the screen with every scene she is in, and she perfectly captures the spirit and personality of Carrie Fisher’s version of the character, only she’s a child. They gave this character an interesting part to play in the story. But, I think fans are going to fall in love with this kid as Leia.
I’m 100% in on this series. These first two episodes completely hooked me and I’m so excited to see where this story takes us over the course of the series! These first two episodes also had some unexpected surprises, and I imagine there will be a lot more of those as the series continues.
Here’s what other fans are saying about it: