The Mandalorian has been an undeniable success for Lucasfilm and Disney. And they desperately needed this win after the Sequel Trilogy was poorly received by both the fans and the critics. But The Mandalorian can’t keep the hype up alone.

Other Disney+ Star Wars shows also have to bring the excitement back to Star Wars again. And the next likely show to do that will probably be the Obi-Wan Kenobi one.

Just like The Mandalorian brought hope back after the Sequel Trilogy, the Obi-Wan Kenobi show can do the same for the much-derided Prequel Trilogy.

This is not to say that there haven’t been attempts to make the Prequel Trilogy better. After all, animated shows like Star Wars: The Clone Wars have done an excellent job of expanding as well as humanizing the prequels.

As a result, these animated shows have been positively received. But they haven’t quite succeeded in changing the minds of the wider audience. However, Lucasfilm might finally bring about that change with Obi-Wan Kenobi.

What Will We Get To See In Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Out of all the Disney+ Star Wars shows in development, it’s Obi-Wan Kenobi that everyone is the most hyped about since it was announced in 2019. Ewan McGregor will reprise his role as Obi-Wan, and he will be accompanied by a stellar star cast.

The second most notable name out of the cast list is of course of Hayden Christensen. He is coming back as Darth Vader, and everyone is predicting that the fight between them will shatter records!

Regarding the plot, the story is set a decade after the events of the last Prequel movie and before the beginning of the Original Trilogy. Now, Obi-Wan Kenobi the show is likely to be a blend of fan-loved familiarity and new exciting grounds.

After all, we will get to see Obi-Wan Kenobi likely leaving Tatooine and going off on other adventures. As for treading new grounds, the show will probably take inspiration from The Mandalorian and help build goodwill for the Prequel movies.

How Can Obi-Wan Kenobi Flesh Out The Prequel Narrative Like The Mandalorian?

The secret behind The Mandalorian’s success has been multiple things. It pays homage to the past by adding callbacks to previous Star Wars locations and characters while also, exploring new concepts.

The second season of the show continued this tradition by bringing beloved Star Wars: The Clone Wars characters like Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan Kryze into the mix. Thankfully, these characters weren’t there as a cool reference to the previous animated shows.

Ahsoka Tano is getting her own Disney+ show, and Bo-Katan’s story will continue to get explored in season 3 of The Mandalorian. Obi-Wan Kenobi can continue this tradition and help flesh out the franchise even further.

It can do that by bringing prequel-era characters in live-action. These characters will obviously be affected by the events of the Prequel movies, and through them, the audience will better feel the weight of Order 66 and the Republic’s demise.

For example, The Clone Wars is so loved because it was able to humanize the soldiers in the clone army of the Republic. Fans will remember that in Lucas’ movies they were faceless and like a mass.

Now, flashback sequences aren’t something that Star Wars does. But The Mandalorian has indeed used them to great effect. Initially, the flashbacks were supposed to flesh out the backstory of Din Djarin.

However, along with that, they accomplished what George Lucas’ Prequel films didn’t- establish the Separatist war as a high-stakes believable threat. With the help of just a couple of quick shots of a gunship moving overhead and killing civilians, the show successfully established the danger posed by the droid army.

It’s possible that Obi-Wan Kenobi might take such a similar approach by showing the various flashbacks of the Jedi struggling to defeat an indefatigable and unfeeling enemy.

Obi-Wan Kenobi Needs To Focus On Anakin Skywalker

Another thing that will most likely be shown in flashbacks is Anakin Skywalker. Director Deborah Chow has promised that fans will get to:

“See Obi-Wan and Darth Vader get into it again.”

And everyone is excited about the fight between the two. But that fight will be better set up if they spend time on Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker. Also, one of the biggest criticisms of the Prequel Trilogy was the acting and the dialogue.

Hell, even Ewan MacGregor admitted that the dialogue was a huge challenge. So the Obi-Wan show has a unique opportunity to flesh out the dialogue and bring the intriguing Obi-Wan/Anakin dynamic into live-action again.

Now, spending a lot of time on prequel-era subjects might seem unnecessary or too much fan service. So there needs to be a balance. The perfect way to do it would be to include a tasteful amount that will give depth to Kenobi as a character.

But Obi-Wan Kenobi will premiere in 2022. So there’s still a long wait till then. For now, we can only hope that the show will follow in the footsteps of The Mandalorian and help add more substance to the Prequel movies.

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