In recent years, Star Wars has had lots of fun telling tales of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s time on Tatooine between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. But never like this. The first trailer for the Disney+ limited series Obi-Wan Kenobi was just released and it looks like Kenobi’s old apprentice, Darth Vader, hired a legion of his Inquisitors to hunt down and find the Jedi Master.
Though we don’t see Vader in the trailer, we hear him. We do however see his son, Luke Skywalker, as a young boy, as well as his step-brother Owen Lars and a whole bunch of Jedi Hunters who, until now, have never been seen in live action. Click through as we break it all down.
Desolate Tatooine
The trailer begins with several shots of Kenobi riding around Tatooine on an eopie, an animal created for the Star Wars prequels that appeared frequently on The Clone Wars. He rides into what looks like Mos Eisely, stands at a workbench, and laments on the state of the galaxy. “The fight is done. We lost,” he says, referring to Palpatine’s plot to overthrow the Jedi and take over the galaxy. We also see him sitting in front of a cave, which might be a place he stays or a place he can get in touch with the Force. Jedi and caves tend to go hand in hand.
Stay Hidden
The trailer then reveals Kenobi overlooking the Lars estate, which is the last place we saw McGregor’s version of the character in Revenge of the Sith. Then he was delivering a baby Luke Skywalker to Owen and Beru and now we see Luke as a young child for the first time ever. He seems to be pretending to fly a ship or maybe even podrace, like his father before him.
The Key To Hunting Jedi
After dropping John Williams’ legendary “Duel of the Fates” over the Lucasfilm logo (how dare this trailer go that hard!), a sleek, black ship is seen flying to a remote tower in the middle of the sea — which looks an awful lot like like the Fortress Inquisitorius, based on the moon of Nur in the Mustafar system, introduced in Jedi: Fallen Order, the home base of the Imperial Inquisition. We then cut to, for the first time ever, an Inquisitor in live action. Inquisitors are a group of Force-sensitive Jedi hunters created for Star Wars Rebels, lead by the Grand Inquisitor, seen above. He’s likely played by Homeland’s Rupert Friend (though Harry Potter’s Jason Isaacs voiced him on Rebels). “The key to hunting Jedi is patience,” he says.
Inquisitive Inquisitors
After a few brief shots of Kenobi travelling across Tatooine on some kind of mass transportation, posing as an ordinary citizen, we see what we believe is a seemingly underwater room back in the Fortress Inquisitorius. There we see a new Inquisitor (Reva, played by Moses Ingram) standing in front of two others. The one on the right, with the circular saber on his back, appears to be the Fifth Brother, possibly played by F9‘s Sung Kang. There’s another one there, but based on the tails on the back of her heads, she’s probably not the Brother’s usual companion, the Seventh Sister. This one seems to be new. (Reva’s full title in the Inquistorius is, in the dichotomy of Brother/Sister pairings, the Third Sister.)
Also of note are the Imperial Stormtroopers here. This meeting is fully endorsed by Vader and the Emperor.
Reva On The Hunt
“Jedi cannot help what they are,” the Grand Inquisitor says. “Their compassion leaves a trail.” And, it seems, Reva has been hired to follow that trail. There’s a shot of feet hanging, probably dead, on Tatooine followed by Reva threatening a group of citizens, led by Owen (Joel Edgerton, returning after playing the character in Attack of the Clones). It certainly seems like the Inquistors know there is some Jedi presence on Tatooine and are looking for leads.
New Planet Alert
But Reva’s hunt doesn’t just take her to Tatooine. The next few shots shot the Inquistor is on a new planet called Daiyu, which has a very Blade Runner vibe. More scenes will take place on this planet later and, yes, Kenobi is there, engaging in a firefight with people.
Imperial Officer on World
A ship lands on a desert planet, which may be Tatooine or may not. And off it walks an Imperial Officer, played by Game of Thrones’ Indira Varma. We don’t know if she’s playing a known character, or an entirely new officer for the series.
Meanwhile, the Grand Inquisitor is still continuing his thought. “The Jedi Code is like an itch. He cannot help it.”
On the Hunt
Back on what we assume is Daiyu, that mysterious Inquisitor from earlier is hunting Kenobi. Since we know Reva is also there, it’s possible she’s there to oversee Reva’s mission. And they’re getting close because Obi-Wan is there.
We Love a New Droid
You can’t have a new Star Wars show without a new Droid and here we get one. This is appears to be a kind of droid we’ve never seen before — though we don’t know the specific name (the Aurebesh on the armour reads “N.E.D.”) or who is playing them. (My guess? Kumail Nanjiani.) However, considering they are showing down with a Stormtrooper, we’re guessing they’re with Kenobi.
Lightsabers Galor
After a few shots of Reva jumping across the Daiyu rooftops, the Grand Inquisitor says “Where is he?” implying that maybe he’s been brought up to help the lesser Inquisitors who are failing to find the Jedi. Of note here though is one of the coolest thing about the Inquisitors, their lightsabers. They’re all pretty unique in Star Wars lore, including this double blade-spinning one of the Grand Inquisitor. They can even use them to float off ledges and stuff. So rad.
Who is the person he’s facing off with, though? No clue.
Oh Brother
While we can’t be 100% sure this is the Fifth Brother, it’s the same hat and build. Either way, he’s extra intimidating with that garrison of Stormtroopers in tow. It’s all very Blade Runner meets Star Wars, and even if this is meant to be Daiyu, it’s very evocative of what we’ve seen of the lower levels of Coruscant in shows like Clone Wars.
Jedi Lore
We see a ship flying through the galaxy, Reva unleashing her lightsaber on Tatooine, followed by a hand touching some kind of symbol. Is this Kenobi? Unlikely. The glove and outfit look more like an Inquisitor. But the symbol itself is very telling: the winged blade of light that is the insignia of the Jedi Order. A message for someone, or a clue to tell the Empire where Jedi may be hiding?
Showdown
A very curious sequence sees Reva showing down with a blaster toting foe. This person does find themselves in a shootout with not just Reva in an alley, but multiple foes on a rooftop. Whoever this is, they are either an ally of Obi-Wan, or enemy to the Inquisitors. Or maybe even Obi-Wan themselves? In the shots glimpsed on the rooftop, the figure certainly has similarly-lengthed hair to Obi-Wan.
Hope Survives
As all that action is happening the title cards on the trailer say “Between Darkness and Defeat, Hope Survives.” A quick shot of an explosion and green birds fleeing the scene of the Daiyu rooftop is then followed by Obi-Wan, worried, looking up, and then the title card: Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi. It’s accompanied with the breathing of Darth Vader. We know he’s in this, but how and why? We’ll have to wait until a second trailer, or maybe the show, to find out.
Obi-Wan Kenobi begins streaming on Disney+ from May 25.