Kenobi Writer Joby Harold Talks Changing Star Wars History

Kenobi Writer Joby Harold Talks Changing Star Wars History #starwars #kenobi

Disney and Lucasfilm currently have fans in a blast to the past with Obi-Wan Kenobi, long before the battles between Rey and Kylo Ren from the recently-released sequel trilogy. With Ewan McGregor now back to play his iconic character from Episode I to Episode III, this show has the opportunity to fill in a number of gaps throughout the entire Skywalker Saga.

Obi-Wan Kenobi shows the grizzled former Jedi Master being forced out of hiding on Tatooine in order to save a 10-year-old Princess Leia, who finds herself entangled with the Empire as they expand their reign over the galaxy. This, of course, comes decades before her role as a general with the Resistance starting in Episode VII, going up against her own son, Kylo Ren, as he leads the opposing First Order.

While this story takes place before both the original movies and the 21st-century sequels, the Skywalker family legacy is front and center in this story - a legacy that has a thread in nearly every Star Wars project ever released. This thread came up in a recent interview with Obi-Wan Kenobi's head writer, who shed some light on a couple of important connections that fans see in stories that come later in the timeline.

Obi-Wan Kenobi head writer Joby Harold spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about how he tied together small details between this series and other projects from the Skywalker saga. Specifically, he looked at the specific focus on the relationship between Obi-Wan and Princess Leia, which has been a part of the story for much longer than fans may have expected.

Harold noted that it was helpful to have an end goal in the events of Episode IV to look to, specifically the moment when Leia sends the message "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope" with R2-D2.

Obi-Wan Kenobi not only solidifies the reasoning behind that moment, but it also teases why Leia later names her son Ben before the sequel trilogy. Obi-Wan played as big of a role in Leia's life as he did her brother, Luke, so Harold saw this relationship as "a big component in her life" during her growth from childhood to adulthood, with Leia knowing Obi-Wan only as Ben at the start:

"It was very helpful to know where they were going because it answers the question of, 'Why him?' So, 'Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope,' feels less arbitrary as a choice and a decision now that we know the depth of the history they have together. The context within which Leia says that in A New Hope is now canon, and it’s clear. So it will be articulated as the show continues, but I liked the fact that it helped reinforce and better articulate a little piece of the jigsaw that is already in place. If you watch all of the Star Wars stories in a row right now, you’d be like, 'Of course, she’s going to go to Obi-Wan.' She also ends up naming her son, Ben [Adam Driver]. So I liked the fact that he was a big component in her life, as much as he was in Luke’s life up until now. It felt right after everything that happened with Anakin and those two children that he would be there for both children, to the degree he now has been in canon."

Become a Channel Member to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Y1x_Bd8uvQ_gMMUpEmmoQ/join

Become a Patreon member for our full reaction videos, and gain access to our Discord Watch-Party's:
https://www.patreon.com/EchoBaseNetwork?fan_landing=true

Link for our second channel Echo Base TV: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJGy4W0YlWQopMlxN0DFuEw