The recent Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+ was seen by many as a disappointment. Once seen as one of the most anticipated shows of 2022 it quickly drew in fewer numbers with each episode.



Many people criticized the lack of focus on Obi-Wan himself and focusing more on Young Lea and the new Inquisitor Reva. They also criticized the confusing plot and messing with the lore of the franchise. People were also turned off by the media saying that people who hated the show only hated it because of Reva, even if that was not the case.



The series was originally meant to focus on an exiled Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Ewan McGregor) protecting a young Luke Skywalker as the Empire is hunting down the last remaining Jedi. But with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy was unhappy with the original draft and ordered a rewrite under a different creative team.



One of the series writers, Andrew Stanton (known for directing Finding Nemo and Wall-E), recently spoke with Gizmodo about writing for the series, calling it both “a blessing and a curse“:

“That was the blessing and the curse of it. It’s like one, you’re geeking out that you get to type ‘Vader says’ this and ‘Kenobi says’ that. You pause and say ‘I can’t believe I’m actually getting paid to type this. I can’t believe these words may be said.’”

However he would also discuss he felt frustrated when he had to stick to the continuity previously established for these characters:

“But then another part of you, it has to go through such a rigorous like ‘Does that fit the canon?’ And I feel like it’s bittersweet. The reason that happens is because people care, but it also kind of doesn’t allow, sometimes, things to venture beyond where maybe they should to tell a better story. So it can sometimes really handicap what I think are better narrative options.“

“And so I was frustrated sometimes. Not a lot, but I just felt it wasn’t as conducive to the story. I love it when something like Andor is in a safe spot. And it can just do whatever the heck it wants. But I felt, you know, Joby Harold, to his credit, kept the torch alive and kept trying to thread the needle so that the story wouldn’t suffer but it would please all the people that were trying to keep it in the canon. But I got some moments in there that I’m very happy with.”



Despite this the series did have three major continuity flaws. The first being Obi-Wan and Darth Vader having a rematch as it was implied in ‘A New Hope’ that they haven’t seen each other since the end of Revenge of the Sith.

The second was Obi-Wan not knowing that Anakin Skywalker had become Darth Vader, but in Revenge of the Sith when Obi-Wan watched the security tapes at the Jedi temple he heard Darth Sidious call Anakin “Lord Vader”.

Finally, it was also implied that Princess Leia did not know Obi-Wan Kenobi in ‘A New Hope’ but now she had a whole adventure with him and just pretended she didn’t know him.

Many Star Wars fans hold the continuity to the films very highly, so when a writer admits that they wish they weren’t restricted by continuity it might ruffle some feathers. If you don’t have the trust of the fanbase then your film or show likely won’t be well received. 

Source: The Direct