Part I (Obi-Wan Kenobi)

"Part I" is the first episode of the American streaming television series ''Obi-Wan Kenobi'', based on ''Star Wars'' created by George Lucas. It follows Obi-Wan Kenobi in a self-imposed exile on Tatooine a decade after the events of '' Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith'' (2005) as he monitors Luke Skywalker on Tatooine to ensure his safety. It was written by Stuart Beattie, Hossein Amini, and Joby Harold and directed by Deborah Chow.

The episode stars Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, who reprises his role from the ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy, alongside co-stars Rupert Friend, Sung Kang, Moses Ingram, Benny Safdie, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Simone Kessell, Vivien Lyra Blair, Flea, with Jimmy Smits. Chow was hired in September 2019, and following rewrites of the script, Harold became the head writer and showrunner. Both executive produce alongside McGregor, Michelle Rejwan, and Kathleen Kennedy, while the episode is produced by Thomas Hayslip and Katterli Frauenfelder.

"Part I" was released on Disney+ on May 27, 2022. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for McGregor's performance, Chow's direction, the script, and its character-focused storyline.

Plot

Ten years after the enactment of Order 66 and the Galactic Republic's re-organization into the Galactic Empire, former Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi is now a self-exiled recluse on the planet Tatooine under the alias "Ben", where he works at a meat factory and watches over a young Luke Skywalker, despite numerous warnings to stay away from him and his family by Luke's step-uncle Owen Lars. Kenobi also experiences nightmares of his past and has lost connection to the Force as he struggles to contact his deceased former master Qui-Gon Jinn.

The Grand Inquisitor, Fifth Brother, and Third Sister (Reva Sevander) arrive on Tatooine in search of a Jedi named Nari. Once they find Nari, Reva recklessly attempts to kill him, which the Grand Inquisitor prevents, wanting to interrogate Nari instead. Nari manages to escape in the ensuing commotion. The Grand Inquisitor berates Reva on her impulsive actions and her obsession on finding Kenobi, who is widely believed to be dead, and unbeknownst to them on Tatooine. Kenobi leaves a toy for Skywalker on the Lars' homestead. The next day, Owen vehemently returns the toy and rebukes him. Reva and Fifth Brother arrive in the area, and Kenobi hides. Reva harasses Owen and the other citizens in an attempt to find Nari, but Owen feigns ignorance, as he wants to protect his family. That night, Nari attempts to seek help from Kenobi, but he refuses and tells him to hide from the Inquisitors as the Jedi are being hunted. Kenobi then finds his hanging corpse the next day.

Desperate to lure Kenobi, Reva hires bounty hunter Vect Nokru and his gang to kidnap a young Princess Leia Organa, after finding out connections between Kenobi and her adopted father and senator Bail Organa, from Alderaan. Bail requests Kenobi rescue her and travels to Tatooine to personally convince him. Kenobi recovers his lightsaber from the desert and leaves Tatooine.

Production

Development

By August 2017, Lucasfilm was developing a spin-off film focusing on Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi from the prequel trilogy. However, following the project's cancellation due to the financial failure of '' Solo: A Star Wars Story'' (2018), McGregor entered negotiations to star in a six-episode Disney+ limited series centered around Kenobi. The series was officially announced by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy at the 2019 D23 event. Deborah Chow was hired to direct all episodes for the series by September 2019, while Joby Harold became the head writer and showrunner in April 2020 following Kennedy's disapproval with the scripts and subsequent rewrites. The series is executive produced by Harold, Chow, McGregor, Kennedy, and Michelle Rejwan. Chow and Harold wanted the series to be a character study for Kenobi, and worked to connect elements from the prequel trilogy and original trilogy. Harold wanted to further explore Kenobi's character following the events of Order 66 and wanted him to deal with issues from his past. Chow also took inspirations from "gritty, poetic westerns" including ''The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'' (2007), '' The Proposition'' (2005), and the works of Akira Kurosawa.

Writing

Various story elements in the episode were conceived by Stuart Beattie and Hossein Amini when they were developing the film. The episode takes place a decade after the events of Order 66. McGregor had described Kenobi as a "broken man after what happened with the Jedi order at the end of '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'' (2005), but also what happened with Anakin; that he lost him to the dark side. He feels an enormous amount of responsibility for that, and guilt". He further noted that "he'd lost his faith ... it was interesting to take him into a darker place and then over the course of the series, see how he finds his faith again and gets back to being the Obi-Wan that we knew and loved". Harold had also noted that Kenobi was traumatized by both his past and the rise of the Empire, adding "Within that hopeless fatalistic world, we find possibly the most famous of all our surviving Jedi in hiding struggling with that faith that defines the Jedi, and wanting to hold onto it and hoping to regain that faith within that sort of hopeless world".

Harold said that the Galactic Empire was in "ascendancy" during this time period, that most of the Jedi Order was killed, and that the Empire has set up the Inquisitor program, which consists of dark side Force users tasked with finding and killing Jedi. They were recruited by Darth Vader, with Chow wanting them to be depicted in a way that "felt true to the spirit of the animated series 'Star Wars Rebels'' (2014-2018)">Star_Wars_Rebels.html" ;"title="'Star Wars Rebels">'Star Wars Rebels'' (2014-2018), where they had originated from''.'' The episode features the Grand Inquisitor (Star Wars)">Grand Inquisitor