The One And Obi
Obi-wan Kenobi is in a reflective mood in Marvel’s new miniseries
COINCIDING WITH HIS upcoming Disney+ show, Star Wars’ original Jedi master is set to star in his first Marvel miniseries. Written by Christopher Cantwell, the five-parter looks back over the decades as Obi-wan Kenobi reflects upon his eventful life during his final days on Tatooine.
“For a story where Obi-wan is looking back, it made sense to put in the framing story of him reflecting on his past as close to the start of
A New Hope as possible,” Cantwell tells Red Alert. “Obi-wan is profoundly attuned to the Force, so it made sense that he could feel a culmination around the corner. He’s not clairvoyant, but he knows Luke is basically an adult, and the galaxy is getting ripped apart.
“His stasis won’t last forever,” the writer continues, “As he has a feeling he’s going to get involved again, so he begins to think back on the times he was directly involved in conflict, and what kind of effect it’s had on him. The guy’s been through a lot of hardship, and a sage like Obi-wan is going to have this pit in his stomach at this stage, which is almost a dread-like feeling of, ‘Oh boy, here we go again.’ We all know the tragic conclusion of his story, and its beautiful coda after he becomes one with the Force, and the reader’s foreknowledge enriches Obi-wan’s soul-searching.”
ORIGINAL GUINNESS
To hone his portrayal, Cantwell referred to both Alec Guinness, who played Obi-wan in the inaugural Star Wars trilogy, and Ewan Mcgregor, who took on the role in the three prequels. “I can’t help but draw on their performances in writing the character, and I’d be a fool not to, because they’re both so indelible,” he says, revealing that he also looked at Obi-wan’s appearances in comics and elsewhere.
“I’ve gone so incredibly deep on research for these stories, and there was a lot of legends and canon that I was able to draw upon and reference, from the novels to the comics to TV shows like Clone Wars and Rebels. But apart from the fact that Obi-wan is writing in his journals that were established by comic writer Jason Aaron during his run on Star Wars,
I couldn’t tell you what I pulled from where now, because there’s just so much.”
While he cannot reveal any specific identities, Cantwell promises that we will encounter plenty of familiar faces. “Given that the stories take place during his Jedi training, the Clone Wars, and when he was a Master, it would be weird not to see some characters that we know would probably also be around,” he teases. “Some are integral to the story while other folk show up in cool cameos, and I also got to create a few key original Star Wars characters, which was just insane.”
With a separate artist illustrating each issue, Ario Anindito joins Cantwell on the debut instalment, while Luke Ross tackles issue two. “It’s going to be a lot of fun, given how different the stories are in terms of era and genre,” says Cantwell. “I tried to lean into a different genre for each issue, whether it be horror, war stories or John Ford Westerns. Since we’re working with different artists, it made sense, but still keep it unified thematically.” SJ
Star Wars: Obi-wan issue one is out on 4 May.