Warning: contains SPOILERS for episodes 1 and 2 of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
What is Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea doing in the Inquisitors still search the galaxy intently for any remaining survivors. Ben Kenobi, then, has all the more reason to stray from the Jedi Order.
Born Michael Peter Balzary, the musician and actor known as Flea is primarily famous for playing the bass in the band Red Hot Chili Peppers, starting with their formation in 1983. But his acting career also spans decades. Flea's notable movie roles include Needles in two installments of the Back to the Future trilogy, a nihilist in the Coen brothers' cult classic Baby Driver. In the Disney+ Star Wars show Obi-Wan Kenobi, Flea plays a mercenary named Vect Nokru.
The character works for Third Sister Reva (Moses Ingram), an Inquisitor who is fiercely ambitious in her hunt to find Obi-Wan Kenobi and deliver him to Darth Vader. s young Princess Leia Organa (Vivien Lyra Blair) and takes her to Daiyu as bait for Obi-Wan. However, the mercenaries fail this mission, leading Reva to then set a bounty on Obi-Wan's head.
There had been rumors of a Flea cameo about three weeks prior to the release of Obi-Wan Kenobi (via Temuera Morrison in Obi-Wan Kenobi, playing a veteran clone. Flea is no different in that regard. Additionally, though, Deborah Chow, who directed all six episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi and serves as an executive producer of the show, also worked with Flea on the 2022 music video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Black Summer."
Star Wars rarely looks to musicians for cameo appearances, so it's still a bit unusual to find the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist in Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, given Flea's previous acting experience playing typically scummy characters, coupled with his prior collaboration with Chow, his appearance as Vect Nokru is appropriate. After his likely demise at the hands of the Grand Inquisitor in the second episode, it seems like Flea's time in Star Wars is already at an end. However, his acting career will continue this year with a part in the Damien Chazelle movie Babylon. Meanwhile, with Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 2, there surely will be more surprises coming in the next four episodes.
Obi-Wan Kenobi continues Wednesday on Disney+.
