The long-awaited Obi-Wan Kenobi series has reached its end. But Star Wars is somehow even more beautiful now than it was before Deborah Chow and her team had the chance to tell this story.
With only six episodes to lay out and then neatly wrap up an entire narrative — one including legacy characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader — many wondered if the short runtime would be enough to do the characters justice. It turns out it was all the time needed to connect Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, to provide small moments of fanservice that felt earned — not forced — and to make classic Star Wars moments experienced later on in the timeline even more meaningful than they were before.
An Unexpected Story – In A Good Way
Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s story was never meant to be a study of the former Jedi alone, and “Part VI” proves it. This was a story about Obi-Wan’s grief, but Vader’s as well. This was a story about Roken’s confidence, Reva’s acceptance and self-forgiveness — Leia’s understanding of her role in the state of the larger galaxy.
This was a story full of threads no one expected. And that’s what makes it great, especially its finale specifically. Many fans expected a story of a lonely man in the desert having visions and talking to ghosts. Imagine if that’s all we’d gotten. Imagine if Vader and Kenobi had never met, if Reva was never allowed to grieve. If Obi-Wan never learned about The Path. If Leia had stayed on Alderaan never knowing the true danger so many in the galaxy were really in.
“Part VI” ties everything together by going back to the beginning, by showing what has changed. Leia is no longer wary of her title as a princess. Obi-Wan no longer feels weighed down by the belief that he can save Anakin (or that he was the one to kill him). Owen and Beru have proven they will do anything to protect their nephew.
More Spinoffs On The Way?
This episode also opened up at least two opportunities for future stories: Roken and his involvement with The Path (maybe one day, the Rebellion), and Reva’s journey of self-discovery after meeting Obi-Wan again on Tatooine. This may be a limited series, but there are many more stories to be told, even beyond the possibilities mentioned above.
Perhaps that’s the true definition of a high-quality Star Wars story: One that can stand on its own as a complete narrative, but simultaneously leaving openings for additional stories to branch off from it. Not because the original needs supplementary material, but because those other stories deserve to be told, too.
The Obi-Wan Kenobi finale is more than a love letter to Star Wars. It’s a story honoring everything that has come before while also paving the way for what’s to come next. Why include legacy characters in a story if not to use their impact on the larger story to make room for more characters, more stories, more in-depth looks at the galaxy and what we as viewers can learn from it?
This may be the end of Kenobi’s story. But Star Wars has so many more stories to tell. And with directors like Chow at the forefront, there’s no doubt we’ll continue to see stories that sharpen our understanding of Star Wars as well as our own galaxy. Stories that force us to look at ourselves differently, to accept who we’ve been and embrace who we might become someday. That’s the power of stories like these. The deeper you dive into them, the more impactful they become.
All episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi are now streaming on Disney+.
