49 Fun Facts About Obi-Wan Kenobi

Who directed all six episodes of the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Deborah Chow travelled to the Canadian farm of the actor behind Darth Vader to pitch his return in person. Early versions of the story had left Vader out.

Who travels to Tatooine to persuade Kenobi to rescue the kidnapped Leia in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Bail Organa is turned down at first: Kenobi says he is not the man he used to be, and gives in only after Leia's adoptive father pleads with him face to face.

What is the name of young Leia's pocket-sized droid companion in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Lola, short for L0-LA59, becomes a spy without knowing it: the Inquisitors plant a tracker on the droid, which leads them straight to the refugees' hideout.

Darth Vader's fortress in Obi-Wan Kenobi stands on which planet, the site of his defeat a decade earlier?

Mustafar is where Kenobi left him burning beside a lava river. The fortress built there first appeared in Rogue One, and the series shows him healing inside it in a bacta tank.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is set ten years after the events of which Star Wars film?

Revenge of the Sith ends with Kenobi going into hiding. When the series was announced in 2019 it was to pick up eight years later; by its premiere the gap had become ten.

Who plays the ten-year-old Princess Leia in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Vivien Lyra Blair's role was kept under wraps until the first episode aired, a surprise the head writer said he was relieved to have protected.

Who plays the Grand Inquisitor in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Rupert Friend's villain is run through with a lightsaber in the second episode and left for dead, then walks back in three episodes later to reclaim his rank.

The Inquisitors' sea-bound fortress in Obi-Wan Kenobi was first seen in which Star Wars video game?

Jedi: Fallen Order ends with a raid on Fortress Inquisitorius. The series sends Kenobi swimming in through an underwater port to free Leia.

Who voiced the Grand Inquisitor in the animated series Star Wars Rebels?

Jason Isaacs voiced the villain through the first season, which ends with him choosing to let go and fall to his death rather than answer to his master for failing.

Who plays the Inquisitor Reva, the Third Sister, in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Moses Ingram insisted that Reva wear her natural hair rather than a wig, so that Black children could dress as the character at Halloween with their own hair.

Which Fast & Furious actor plays the Fifth Brother, an Inquisitor, in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Sung Kang's Fifth Brother tells Reva he is next in line to lead the Inquisitors, only for Darth Vader to hand the title to her instead.

Which comedian plays Haja Estree, a con man posing as a Jedi, in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Kumail Nanjiani studied real con men and stage magicians for the part. Haja fakes the Force with hidden magnets and a remote control.

Who plays the disillusioned Imperial officer Tala Durith in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Indira Varma's Tala gives her life in the fifth episode: wounded, she sets off a detonator to hold back the stormtroopers while the refugees retreat.

Who plays Kawlan Roken, a leader of the network smuggling Jedi to safety, in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

O'Shea Jackson Jr.'s Roken at first wants no part in rescuing Leia, then turns up with his fighters to pull Kenobi's party out of the Inquisitors' fortress.

In Obi-Wan Kenobi, what is the name of the secret network that smuggles Jedi away from the Empire?

The Path shelters other Force-sensitive fugitives as well as Jedi. Through it Kenobi learns that other Jedi had been helping while he hid: his old comrade Quinlan Vos among them.

Which Red Hot Chili Peppers member plays the bounty hunter Vect Nokru in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Flea's Vect Nokru is hired to snatch the young Leia from her home, as bait to draw Kenobi out of hiding.

Which Scrubs star voices Freck, the alien transport driver, in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Zach Braff's Freck cheerfully offers Kenobi and Leia a lift, then hands them to stormtroopers at a checkpoint: for all his charm, his loyalty is to the Empire.

Which Uncut Gems director plays Nari, a young Jedi hiding on Tatooine, in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Benny Safdie's Nari begs Kenobi for help and is told to keep his head down and live a normal life. Soon afterwards his body is found hanging in the town.

Obi-Wan Kenobi used AI to recreate the younger voice of which actor, then aged 91?

James Earl Jones signed off on the recreation, built from his old recordings by the Ukrainian start-up Respeecher, whose staff kept working through the first days of Russia's invasion.

Which Star Wars veteran cameos in Obi-Wan Kenobi as a homeless clone trooper begging in the street?

Temuera Morrison played Jango Fett, the template for every clone. Kenobi, who once led such soldiers into battle, hesitates and then drops a few credits into the old trooper's helmet.

The spice dealer who offers Kenobi a free sample is played by which Obi-Wan Kenobi cast member's daughter?

Ewan McGregor played the scene opposite his daughter Esther. Her character tells the Jedi, who is searching for a missing girl, that she was someone's daughter once too.

On which neon-lit city planet does Kenobi first find the kidnapped Leia in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Daiyu was pitched by the head writer as having a Hong Kong feel, with 'a graffiti-ridden nightlife', to set it apart from the deserts where the story begins.

Which actor returns from the prequel films as Luke's uncle Owen Lars in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Joel Edgerton had only a few scenes as Owen in the prequels. Here he hurls back the toy Kenobi leaves for Luke and tells the old Jedi to stay away from the boy.

Fans at which convention were shown the first two of Obi-Wan Kenobi's six episodes at an advance screening?

Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim hosted the screening on the eve of the premiere, and the crowd gave the cast and crew a standing ovation when it ended.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was first scheduled to premiere on the 45th anniversary of which film's release?

A New Hope opened on May 25, 1977. The series slipped two days past the anniversary, so Disney+ made up for the wait by releasing its first two episodes together.

Which composer became the first woman to score a live-action Star Wars project with Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Natalie Holt built the menacing sound of the Inquisitors around a hunting horn and unusual percussion, saying she wanted music that 'stirs your guts'.

The star of the 2022 series Obi-Wan Kenobi wanted his Jedi to grow closer to which actor's portrayal?

Alec Guinness won a new generation of fans as the older Kenobi but hated the part, and said he had urged George Lucas to kill the character off to spare him the 'mumbo jumbo'.

Which piece of prequel-trilogy music plays in the first trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Duel of the Fates shares the trailer with Battle of the Heroes. Each was written for one of Kenobi's great prequel duels, a pointer to the rematch the series was building towards.

The second trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi was released to mark which annual fan holiday?

Star Wars Day falls on May 4 because the date sounds like 'May the Force'. The show's star said he had filmed a very special scene for it on the same date a year earlier.

The box-office failure of which film led Disney to scrap its planned Obi-Wan Kenobi movie?

Solo: A Star Wars Story took under $400 million worldwide, less than a third of The Last Jedi's total. Lucasfilm shelved its spin-off films and rebuilt the Kenobi story for streaming.

Under what name does Kenobi live in exile on Tatooine in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Ben is the name Luke knows him by in the 1977 film. In the series he earns a meagre wage cutting meat at a desert worksite and goes home each night to a cave.

Which villain was reported to have been cut from early Obi-Wan Kenobi scripts, a claim its director denied?

Darth Maul and actor Ray Park were to return until a 2020 rewrite, The Hollywood Reporter was told. The director answered that Maul had never been in any version she worked on.

What nickname is given to the wraparound LED-screen stage on which Obi-Wan Kenobi was filmed?

The Volume is a curved wall of LED screens that wraps the cast in finished scenery, so the actors can see the world around them instead of playing to a blue screen.

Who put Obi-Wan Kenobi on hold in 2020, unhappy with scripts that were then thrown out?

Kathleen Kennedy, the head of Lucasfilm, wanted 'a hopeful, uplifting story', hard to write for a hero at his lowest. The scripts were scrapped and a new writer started again.

In which city was the series Obi-Wan Kenobi filmed?

Los Angeles was confirmed by the show's star after tabloid reports had put the shoot in Boston, and then in the English town of the same name.

Which Obi-Wan Kenobi actor won a 2022 Saturn Award for his guest role in the series?

Hayden Christensen had stepped away from Hollywood to run a farm in Canada. The series put him back on screen as Darth Vader after 17 years.

With which two-word greeting does Kenobi finally meet young Luke at the end of Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Hello there is the greeting he gives in the original 1977 film and again in the prequels. Having agreed to let Luke have a normal childhood, he then rides off into the desert.

Who talks Darth Vader into abandoning his hunt for Kenobi in the finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Emperor Palpatine rebukes his apprentice for his obsession with his old master and questions his loyalty. Vader gives up the search on the spot.

Which Tatooine town, talked about since the 1977 film, did designers finally get to build for Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Anchorhead is as far as Luke offers to drive Kenobi in the 1977 film. Lucasfilm's design chief said everybody had talked about the town but nobody had seen it.

In the finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Kenobi gives Leia which keepsake that belonged to Tala?

Her holster is empty when Kenobi hands it over as a parting present. Tala had died an episode earlier, holding off stormtroopers so the refugees could get away.

Which Jedi's Force spirit finally appears to Kenobi in the last scene of Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Qui-Gon Jinn is played once more by Liam Neeson, uncredited. He said he came back out of respect for George Lucas, and because he didn't want anyone else in the part.

What is the title of the making-of documentary about the series Obi-Wan Kenobi?

A Jedi's Return follows two comebacks at once: the title character's and that of his former apprentice, with both actors back on screen in the roles after 17 years.

On which planet is young Leia growing up as a princess when Obi-Wan Kenobi begins?

Alderaan is the world the Death Star destroys in the 1977 film. The series shows Leia's childhood there, slipping away from her royal duties to climb trees with her droid.

How does Darth Vader punish Kenobi when they first duel in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Forces him into a fire: Vader lights a spill of flammable ore with his lightsaber and holds his old master in the flames, telling him his pain has only begun.

Before turning to the dark side, what role did the Grand Inquisitor hold in the Jedi Order?

Temple Guard is the form his spirit takes in Star Wars Rebels: a masked sentinel who duels the Jedi Kanan Jarrus, knights him, and only then removes his helmet.

Denis Lawson, uncle of the star of Obi-Wan Kenobi, played which rebel pilot in the original Star Wars trilogy?

Wedge Antilles flies in all three original films and survives both Death Star battles, so the family had a Star Wars hero two decades before the nephew picked up a lightsaber.

Which Pixar director co-wrote the final two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Andrew Stanton's part in the series came to light about two months before the premiere, when his name turned up on a writers' guild listing of its credits.

The director of Obi-Wan Kenobi won the job with episodes of which earlier series?

The Mandalorian's first season has two episodes by the future Kenobi director, who also turns up on screen in it as an X-wing pilot.

In Obi-Wan Kenobi, Reva secretly plots revenge on Darth Vader for what?

Killing her fellow Younglings: as a child she watched him cut down her friends on the night the Jedi fell, then rose through the Inquisitors to get close enough to strike.