If writer Stuart Beattie’s initial concept for Obi-Wan Kenobi had made it to the screen, fans would have seen one of their favorite characters brought to the screen for the first time since his character was issued the fateful Order 66 in the last prequel film, Revenge of the Sith.
As far as the Disney Plus Star Wars streaming series go, Obi-Wan Kenobi, the latest stand-alone miniseries in the franchise, probably brought in the biggest legacy characters to appear in any of the Star Wars TV series to date. Fans got to see younger versions of Luke and Leia, glimpse a down-and-out clone trooper played by Boba Fett actor Temuera Morrison, and saw Kenobi fight a fully armored Darth Vader for the first time since the premiere of A New Hope back in 1977. But Beattie also had plans to bring back Kenobi’s former Clone Wars compatriot, Commander Cody.
“Yeah, yeah. Cody was the big one. I love the idea of Obi-Wan having a buddy on Tatooine. Like a secret buddy. So like the first time he goes into town, you see, Cody, and he’s following him through the streets and attacks him, takes him into an alley with a knife to his throat and says, ‘You’re dead.’ And then you realize, ‘Oh, no… Cody’s making a point.’ Like, ‘Come on. You got to be more careful.’”
— Stuart Beattie
Cody — AKA CC-2224 — was the leader of the 212th Attack Battalion under the command of Obi-Wan in the days of the Clone Wars when the Jedi master was still a General in the Army of the Republic. While Cody briefly appeared in Revenge of the Sith, he’s a major character in the animated prequel series The Clone Wars, which tells the tales of the galaxy-wide conflict occurring between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. As Kenobi’s “right-hand clone” in the series, he quickly became a fan favorite.
Beattie’s original conception was to show Cody as just as scarred by the wars as Obi-Wan, having lost the inhibitor chip that forced him to execute Order 66 and trying to deal with what he did after the Emperor took command.
“Cody has now morphed from someone who was trying to kill him when we last saw them to someone who is now devoting his life to protect him.’ Because by now he’s had the biochip taken out of his head, and now he realizes, ‘Oh my god, what I did was wrong.’ And he has driven by guilt, as much as Obi Wan is driven by guilt. So you got these two kind of old warriors bickering like this old married couple, bitching about, ‘God, it was so much better when we had an army at our backs,’ you know?’”
— Stuart Beattie
Unfortunately for his fans, Cody was dropped from the script in revisions, possibly due to the availability of Temuera Morrison.
However, fans of the character will be able to see him again soon, if not in real-life form; the animated character will be returning for the second season of Disney Plus’ renegade clone trooper series, The Bad Batch.