When Solo: A Star Wars Story bombed at the box office, a lot of people pointed to Star Wars fatigue. They felt that there were too many releases in too short a span. The folks behind the movies have announced that they will be slowing down the releases, but that's not the case for the television side of things.
When Disney+ launches, Obi-Wan. This brings back Ewan McGregor, who was heavily praised for his performance in the prequel trilogy. Fans are eagerly anticipating the show's release. With that in mind, we are going to look at our biggest wants and the things we hope the series avoids.
Don't Want: Another Fight With Darth Maul
For all of the problems that Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace has, the lightsaber fight isn't one of them. Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Darth Maul had one of the coolest battles of the entire franchise. In theory, a one-on-one encounter between Obi-Wan and Darth Maul sounds excellent.
The issue is that diehard fans have already seen this. Darth Maul made a surprising return in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated television series and he appeared in Star Wars Rebels. During his time on those shows, we were already treated to an epic confrontation between these two. No need to go there again.
Want: His Descent Into A Recluse
When we first meet Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, we see that he is a loner. Luke knows him as "old Ben Kenobi" and that seems to be how most of the other locals feel. At the end of the prequel trilogy, Obi-Wan doesn't seem ready to go into hiding the way Master Yoda did.
At some point between the end of the third film and the beginning of the fourth, he completely changed. Knowing that this series is focusing on that timeframe, we hope to see the event that triggers this modification in his lifestyle. Was it something traumatic?
Don't Want: Young Luke And Leia
At the end of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan separated newborn Luke and Leia to keep them safe from the Empire. He clearly stayed close to Luke's location as they're on the same planet when we first meet them. Luke didn't know a lot about him, so we can assume they barely knew each other.
But you know how these shared universe shows and movies are. They like to remind you that you're watching something connected. The showrunners need to resist the urge to include young Luke and Leia. We don't need to see them as kids because their story isn't important until later in life. Let the focus be solely on Obi-Wan.
Want: The Rise Of The Rebels
The Rebel Alliance is something so major that seems to happen at the weirdest time in Star Wars chronology. It doesn't happen during the prequel trilogy and when the original trilogy begins, their forces are depleted. The Empire was as dominant as ever and things looked bleak for the good guys.
We're hoping that this series gives us a look at the glory days of the Rebel Alliance. How did people react to Palpatine and Vader being in power? How did their first attempts to fight back go? And eventually, what happened to cause their numbers to dwindle the way they did?
Don't Want: Midi-Chlorians And Politics
It seems unfair to pick on Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace so much, but things need to be said. One of the biggest problems many fans had with that film was the introduction of midi-chlorians. It was used as a strange explanation of the Force that nobody asked for. Especially when it cheapened part of what made the Force so cool in the first place.
We want none of that in this show. Another issue with that film was the excessive political storyline. It isn't what fans of the franchise came to see, and it was too convoluted and muddled to enjoy. For the Obi-Wan series to be a success it needs to avoid these two problem areas.
Want: Qui-Gon Jinn
The relationship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn was something that we should have seen more of. It was kept to just one movie before Qui-Gon's death at the hands of Darth Maul. Liam Neeson was a lot of fun in the role and he played well off of Ewan McGregor.
So why not put them back together? Qui-Gon shouldn't be brought back to life because that would ruin a pivotal moment in Obi-Wan's arc. But with Qui-Gon being a Jedi, bringing him back as a Force ghost would be easy enough. He could help Obi-Wan in the same way that Obi-Wan eventually helps Luke.
Don't Want: Hayden Christensen
It's time to pick on the later films in the prequel trilogy. Hayden Christensen was brought in to play the role of Anakin Skywalker for those two and his performance was met with less than stellar reviews. And that's putting it nicely. While we don't think he should be part of this series, it isn't because we thought he was terrible.
Hayden Christensen worked well enough as the whiny teenage version of Anakin Skywalker. But by the end of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, he had become Darth Vader. Christensen isn't right for any part of that role. The most we could understand would be some kind of flashback. But even that's a reach.
Want: Great Lightsaber Duels
We've already praised the fight between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Darth Maul. But that wasn't the only highlight from the prequels. The lightsaber duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan at the end of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is considered by many to be the best in the series.
The recent films haven't been able to live up to this battle but that is understandable. Rey isn't a Jedi master so she shouldn't be able to fight that well. Obi-Wan and Anakin's skills are what made their exchange so great. We should be able to see more of Obi-Wan having awesome fights on this show.
Don't Want: Forced Connections
This was arguably the biggest annoyance of the prequels. They tried way too hard to shoehorn in connections to the rest of the films. For example, there was no need for C-3PO to have been built by Anakin Skywalker. It only served to make the universe feel that much smaller.
Things got even worse in Solo: A Star Wars Story, where almost every moment seemed to be a forced nod to something we were familiar with. This Obi-Wan series shouldn't have any of that. Diehard fans will probably roll their eyes and new fans won't notice if it doesn't totally connect.
Want: Darth Vader
You just had to know that this would hold down the top spot. The glimpse that we got of Darth Vader in action at the end of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was incredible and we're salivating for more. Getting to see Vader as a destructive force in his prime would be even better.
As far as we know, Obi-Wan and Darth Vader didn't meet in between their climactic battles on Mustafar and the Death Star. That means they shouldn't come face-to-face in the series. If they did, it would be awesome. But we should at least get to see him at the height of his powers, even if it is just for a cameo or two.
