The Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney Plus featured a lot of unforgettable moments, fan-service moments, and generally sentimental moments that will probably go down as some of the best in the history of Star Wars, even though the show itself failed to keep up a steady rhythm.
It was all building towards that climactic moment of Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) facing Anakin Skywalker aka Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen), so it makes sense that many Star Wars fans thought it was a better idea to stick to the original plan and produce Obi-Wan Kenobi as a standalone movie rather than a limited series. Some fans even took it so far as to edit the six-episode outing into a two-hour movie, and the result was certainly a more consistent experience.
Regardless, there’s no denying that Obi-Wan Kenobi managed to hit some praiseworthy highs, so we’ve decided to list the show’s top 10 amazing moments in chronological order.
10. A Jedi once again
Taking the time to reintroduce Obi-Wan in his self-imposed prison of Tatooine was definitely a great creative choice. The story shows us a broken hero, who is wasting away as a retired warrior of peace and justice in the Republic, and feeling the full weight of the blame for everything that happened 10 years prior. When push comes to shove and Obi-Wan realizes he is the only one who can save Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) and make at least some amends, the Jedi steps up, digs out his lightsaber, and goes gallivanting to save the young princess. The moment when Obi-Wan is boarding a ship to leave Tatooine and the camera pans to show him wearing that lightsaber sent a lot of chills down our nerd spines.
9. Obi-Wan learns the truth
Sure enough, Obi-Wan manages to find and rescue Leia, only to realize that this has been an elaborate plan by the Inquisitors to lure him into a trap. Obi-Wan still outsmarts them thanks to help from a fellow Light-side believer, but not before learning the truth about Anakin. This is indeed the moment that the old Jedi Master learns his padawan still lives, and the show then cuts to Hayden Christensen’s Darth Vader in a bacta tank, looking as menacing as ever. It simply doesn’t get any better than this.
8. First contact
The execution certainly lacked subtly, but Obi-Wan facing Anakin as early as episode three was another great way to build up to that final battle. The protagonist perhaps can never again amount to the great warrior he once was, but Obi-Wan still has to face not only his demons but the full force of Vader’s terrifying machine-line villainy. The Dark Lord emerges from his shuttle and starts laying into the townsfolk, and Obi-Wan has no choice but to flee him.
Using the Force to seek out his adversary, Darth Vader suddenly appears in front of him, and a duel seems all but inevitable. Obi-Wan barely manages to hold his own in this fight, and Vader is clearly holding back, perhaps feeling that defeating Obi-Wan in this state isn’t going to give him the satisfaction he’s been savoring for more than 10 years.
7. Flexing those Force muscles
If only the Inquisitors were a bit more competent at their jobs, all the Jedi, Obi-Wan included, would’ve been found and killed ten times over. This is the episode where the main characters breaks into their main facility, the one we saw in Jedi Fallen Order as well, and locates Princess Leia.
Obi-Wan has been doing this for a while now, so he gets to flex those Jedi muscles in a much more prominent way. Watching Obi-Wan clear his way through Stormtroopers and holding them at bay is certainly a moment that gives you pause, reminding every Star Wars fans that this is the man who singlehandedly defeated the Chosen One through his mastery of the Force. The scene also plants a subtle question in our subconscious: how is he going to fare against Vader, who is certainly more experienced than Anakin, if not exactly more powerful due to his physical limitations?
6. Anakin and Obi-Wan train
Casting Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader was a decision that no one saw coming, or could see the point of, come to think of it, since it didn’t matter who portrayed the menacing villain under all those layers of leather and machine. That’s why a lot of fans assumed that Obi-Wan Kenobi was going to include flashback sequences, and sure enough, the show didn’t disappoint when it came to these fan-service moments.
In an extensive sequence, a younger Obi-Wan and Anakin can be seen practicing the sword in the Jedi Temple. Anakin attacks Obi-Wan with all the aggressiveness he’s usually known for, and Obi-Wan uses that weakness against his padawan to gain the upper hand. “You’re a great warrior, Anakin”, he tells Anakin after he’s disarmed. “But your need to prove yourself is your undoing. Until you overcome it, a padawan you will still be.”
5. Darth Vader stops the transport ship
You know how everyone keeps going on and on about Anakin being the strongest creature in all of Star Wars? He is the Chosen One of the living Force, after all, and the man who, in his early youth, was even more powerful than Master Yoda. The expanded universe (now called Legends) and even other media like comic books have already demonstrated that to some extent, but despite appearing in live-action numerous times, we had yet to see Vader’s beastish strength in full.
In the penultimate Obi-Wan Kenobi episode, the villain stops a transport ship in mid-air and full thrust using the Force. He then brings it down and breaks it apart without batting an eyelid. Barring his onslaught in the famous Rogue One hallway scene, this might just be the most badass thing we’ve ever seen Vader do.
4. The final confrontation
When it was confirmed that Hayden Christensen would be returning to Star Wars, the execs referred to his confrontation with Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan as the “rematch of the century,” so everyone already went into the series counting every minute of runtime until the two squared off against one another again.
Having faced his demons, Obi-Wan waits for Anakin on a dry and rocky planet, a contrast to their last face-off, yet similar enough to get your blood pumping by reminding you of that epic duel on Mustafar. With both characters 10 years older and Vader in his menacing suit, it was difficiult to imitate the flowing dancelike choreography of Revenge of the Sith, but Lucasfilm aimed for something between that confrontation and the one we see in A New Hope, and the result couldn’t have been any more spectacular to behold.
Vader and Obi-Wan move from stance to stance and flaunt their Force abilities to gain the upper hand. The Dark Lord rifts the ground apart and pushes Obi-Wan into a steep hole, using his raw power to bury him under the rocks. Obi-Wan force pushes all of them away after a healthy dose of inspirational movie flashback montage, and then brings his entire strength to bear on his adversary, teaching him, in no uncertain terms, that he is still the student. Expectations were certainly high of this fight, to put it lightly, but suffice it to say that the folks at Lucasfilm didn’t disappoint.
3. “I’m sorry, Anakin”
At the end of this heart-racing duel, Obi-Wan lays into Anakin over and over again, breaking apart his breathing device and cutting off a chunk of his black helmet, like Ahsoka did in Star Wars Rebels. Anakin’s voice, as portrayed by Hayden Christensen, comes through, taunting the Jedi Master by saying: “Anakin is gone. I am what remains.”
Obi-Wan breaks down, something that no one would’ve expected from this fight going in. Ewan McGregor’s fantastic performance shines throughout this series, but never more so than in this scene, where the sheer weight of all his suffering comes crashing down on his shoulders and compels him to let his guard down. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m sorry, Anakin, for all of it.” We’d like to think that what Anakin says next, “I’m not your failure, Obi-Wan,” is actually his old friend using that momentary clarity to reach out and help Obi-Wan move past his guilt, before Vader takes over again.
2. “Hello there!”
Of course this was going to make it into this list. Obi-Wan’s “hello there” moment from Revenge of the Sith has turned into a timeless meme, so it was only natural that most fans wanted him to say it again at one point during Obi-Wan Kenobi. When all hope seemed lost and the show had burned through most of its runtime, the producers revealed that they had saved the best for last by including it in the scene where Obi-Wan meets Luke Skywalker for the first time.
1. Obi-Wan reunites with Qui-Gon after 23 years
There’s no telling what George Lucas wanted to accomplish when he revealed in Revenge of the Sith that Qui-Gon’s Force ghost had reached out to Master Yoda, and that in time, Obi-Wan would learn to communicate with his old master as well. The canon never touched on this again, leading many fans to speculate that Obi-Wan Kenobi might finally address the mystery.
The show decided to close out its limited run by bringing back Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon reunited practically screams more storytelling potential, but even if Lucasfilm drops it here and now, this was a good way to conclude every plot thread from Revenge of the Sith and establish a lifeline from that movie to the Ben Kenobi we see in A New Hope.