Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)

[Greg]

May 25, 2022

[Greg]

And then there was a trailer.

[Drunk Monk]

That’s the teaser trailer 

Or the trailer for the trailer…

[Greg]

Well this is disappointing news.

Obi-Wan Kenobi will include plenty of familiar faces when it debuts May 25, but one Star Wars fan favorite will be noticeably absent.
Darth Maul, a chief antagonist of Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi who first appeared in Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace, is not expected to appear in the series. But, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter, not only was the Sith Lord initially slated to return to the live-action Disney+ series as a key villain, actor Ray Park was in active prep to reprise Maul.
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That, however, was before those scenes were scrapped amid a creative overhaul that ultimately saw other antagonists, including Darth Vader, added to the show.
Hossein Amini was the original writer who worked with director Deborah Chow on the six-episode series. And while it was reported that preproduction paused in early 2020 because Lucasfilm was unhappy with the scripts, the reasoning behind the pause was a little more layered. According to sources, Chow showed the scripts to Star Wars stewards Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, who were coming off the success of The Mandalorian, freshly launched in November 2019, and deep into work on season two.
Sources note that Filoni and Favreau were concerned about Obi-Wan covering similar ground as Mandalorian — the Lone Wolf and Cub-like story of Kenobi coming out of hiding to protect a child-aged Luke Skywalker. Maul was one of the villains who would participate in the hunt for the pair; Vader was nowhere to be found in this faraway galaxy at this stage, according to those with knowledge of the project. Also, Filoni and Favreau pushed Chow and the show to “go bigger,” according to several sources. In any case, those concerns made their way to Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, who pressed the pause button. (Joby Harold was eventually hired as the show’s new writer.)
It is unclear how far along in the process things initially unraveled. A boy was chosen to play young Skywalker, but no scenes with him were shot. As far as Park’s Maul goes, the picture is more cloudy. One source says Park was on set for preproduction and was also involved in stunt training. The source says footage of Park may have been shot, although another source says it could have been test footage. Whatever the case, Park was back as Maul, or so he believed.
In the overhaul, however, Maul was written out. One source says it was Filoni that conceptually keyed in on a way for Vader to be brought back as the big bad, with the Grand Inquisitor, a character made popular by Filoni in the animated series Star Wars Rebels, also put into the story.
A Lucasfilm source contradicted the account, saying Maul was never intended to return for the series.
The overhaul also led to a new search for a young Skywalker, and a new actor was picked. THR has learned the new Luke is Grant Feely, whose only credit, according to IMDb, is an episode of Creepshow.
Maul stands as one of the more popular villains in Star Wars lore, appearing in animated series including Clone Wars and Rebels, which depicted the final battle between Maul and Kenobi. Maul (and Park) returned to live-action for a cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) that suggested there was more for the actor to do in the galaxy far, far away. Solo bombed, scuttling those plans, but soon fans speculated he could appear in Obi-Wan, given that Maul was responsible for the death of Obi-Wan’s master, Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn.
The first trailer for Obi-Wan launched March 9 and gave viewers a look at McGregor back as Obi-Wan Kenobi, as well as glimpses of a young Luke Skywalker and Uncle Lars, played by Joel Edgerton. One of its key pieces of music? John Williams’ classic score, including “Duel of the Fates,” which was used during a Maul-centric lightsaber duel in 1999’s The Phantom Menace and saw Maul meet his match at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

[Drunk Monk]

Just read a different version of this same story. 

Equally disappointed.

[Greg]

Ray Park needs work!

[Greg]

May the 4th be with you.

[Greg]

Help us, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're our only hope.
Despite my TV's continuing drift to the dark side, we manage to catch Ep01 and 02 of the series. At the beginning of Ep01 there is a nice recap of the first three movies that led us to this point. OWK starts up ten years after Revenge of the Sith. OWK is broken and hiding out and watching after Young Skywalker. The Inquisitors, a new group, are hunting down the remnants of the Jedi with OWK being the last big fish. Bad things happen and OWK has to come out of hiding. In Ep02, he travels to a new planet to deal with the thing. Bad things happen there.

On the whole, It's fine. It feels like a TV show more than a movie. The aesthetic feels a little cheaper. They are getting a lot of use out of their Mandalorian/ Boba Fett city set. There were a couple of old faces making an appearance. It must odd to be playing the same characters twenty odd years apart. There is a really good surprise cameo and there is an Eternal who I knew was in the movie but only remembered when he makes his appearance.

There are some bad fight sequences. There are a couple of chase sequences where all I could think was I could catch that person.

But it does appeal to my inner Star Wars fanboy. I'm ready to see more.

[Drunk Monk]

The Inquisitors, a new group, are hunting down the remnants of the Jedi with OWK being the last big fish.

The Inquisitors are not new. They play a major role in Rebels.

There are some bad fight sequences. 

The opening fight at the Jedi temple with the fleeing younglings had a decent one-er from the hallway to the big chamber. That surprised me so much I had to rewind. It’s mostly the Jedi swinging her light saber about so not technically difficult because there’s not much interaction, but worthy of note. The other fights aren’t impressive though so your point is fair.

On the whole, I agree. It’s okay but not stellar. I liked the prequel trilogy recap because it covered so much so quickly. Not sure why 3rd sister is so fanatical yet. Perhaps that’ll be revealed. The fake Jedi was kinda funny. Young Leia started out cool but got annoying. Something was bugging me about the timeline, something seemed out of place, but I can’t remember what that was now. It was something I needed to double check to be sure. Probably me just remembering something wrong.


But overall, I’m underwhelmed. Nevertheless, I’ll watch more too. It’s something to watch.

[Greg]

Have the Inquisitors appeared in any non-animated Star Wars projects?

Okay, so they were new to me. And with the introduction of the young character, the opening of New Hope makes so much more sense. And she was annoying after awhile.

[Drunk Monk]

Have the Inquisitors appeared in any non-animated Star Wars projects?

There hasn't been a non-animated Star Wars project since the original trilogy. And then Lucas went back and CGI animated that one too...

The Grand Inquisitor chased Kanan (the main Jedi in Rebels) and was the main villain for a while. But he died in Rebels. He jumped into a bottomless pit rather than face Vader with his failures. This was a new GI I think. That was the timeline thing that was screwy for me. 

The more I think about Obi-Wan, the more it mirrors my fate with the JediNiteKrew. I should poach some of his lines for the upcoming Dead & Co run.

[Greg]

Ep03 was much better than the previous 2. There was a goal. There were obstacles. And they kind of overcame them. And Zach Braff made an appearance. But it is still not the greatest quality show. The young girl still annoys and then she doesn't. There was a great shot of a trooper that made tQ and I gasp.

Third Daughter needs to find a lower gear. She's going to burn herself out if she keeps it at 11 all the time. I also remember when use of the force was a much more selective thing. Now, it seems every one can use it all the time which makes it kind of mundane rather than special. And then why wasn't it used at the end to grab OWK? Odd.

I would talk more about this episode but people need to see it or at least get tipped off to the spoilers.

I am ready for the next episode. I hope it's the one where OWK has to train to get back his mad Jedi Skillz.

[Greg]

Just learned of a really good easter egg. Temuera Morrison has a cameo, just not as Bobba.

[Drunk Monk]

Speaking of easter eggs

Didja catch Obi's daughter as the spice-slinging gal?

[Greg]

I did. But only after somebody pointed it out.