Obi-Wan Kenobi writers take Star Wars canon “very, very seriously”

A Star Wars show following Obi-Wan Kenobi with appearances from Princess Leia, Darth Vader, and various other familiar faces from across the galaxy…how could that possibly mess up the franchise’s continuity? Well, despite concerns from across the fandom, the show’s writers are confident we can rest easy.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is set during something of a grey area in the Star Wars universe, between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. This has given the writers a degree of freedom to tell a very unique story. For instance, we’ve already seen 10-year-old Princess Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) and the return of Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen), not to mention Ewan McGregor’s return as the titular hero.

There’s a lot that could go wrong, but thanks to the clued-up writers’ team, the returning characters have been handled pretty well. Writer and executive producer Joby Harold revealed to Entertainment Weekly that the team has worked tirelessly to ensure the show makes sense with what’s come before…and after.

"We talked about it a lot. And we’re looking forward to the show airing in its entirety so that hopefully all questions are answered fully. So it’s tricky to field some of those questions mid-process. But yes, all I can say is we’re very cognizant of that, and of canon. And it’s a massive team, Lucasfilm, so we’re all very aware of all the choices that are being made."

There are already a few plot points that fans have taken issue with, particularly concerning Leia. In the original Star Wars, Leia sends this message to Obi-Wan: “General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars.” That seems a little too formal given her adventures with him here.

However, with the series yet to be concluded, let’s give it time. “It will be so much easier to speak to these things once we’ve aired everything,” Harold added. “But as I said before, we very much take canon very, very seriously. And there are many, many people behind the scenes who prioritize that. So we have it in mind, and by the time everything has concluded, all things should be in place.”

Why Leia was the only way to kick-start Obi-Wan Kenobi’s journey

Nevertheless, some fans probably think it would have been a better idea to leave Leia out of this series, but Harold doesn’t think anything else could have spurned Obi-Wan to action. As he told SyFy Wire:

"Very, very early on, Leia was a part of the show, and was going to be the call to action for Obi-Wan. Her presence was one of the few things — if not the only thing — that could pull Obi-Wan away from Luke. Because otherwise, there’s nothing else I would believe that would pull him away. No call to action would be profound enough. Seeing him wrestle with that decision, I think, is part of the fun at the beginning of the show. And then seeing him try to navigate that decision is part of the fun of where we go."

And it has paid dividends, like giving us a chance to see Leia’s home planet of Alderaan before it was famously blown to bits in A New Hope. “As a fan, first and foremost, I feel like it’s one of the few places that right from the beginning, we were all like, ‘What was Alderaan like?’” Harold said. “To see the horror of what happens in A New Hope and to always imagine finally getting to go there, at least in some small way properly.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi continues Wednesdays on Disney+. Will our questions be answered, or will we be more confused than when we started?

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