Kenobi’s Order 66 Flashback Proves Disney’s Biggest Star Wars Problem
In the same week that Disney admits that Star Wars needs to leave the Skywalker Saga behind, Obi-Wan Kenobi plays an old trick of the franchise: an Order 66 flashback. As much as it is important for Star Wars to move forward in terms of the timeline, a return to the Galactic Empire era in order to explore more of Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi portrayal was inevitable. By serving as a bridge between Obi-Wan’s story in the Star Wars prequels and in the original trilogy, Obi-Wan Kenobi had the chance to echo two different eras of Star Wars, but it did it by proving Lucasfilm cannot let go of the past.
The prequel trilogy recap shown at the beginning of Obi-Wan Kenobi was already the first hint of how the show was going to explore the sense of familiarity and nostalgia, both elements very present in recent Star Wars content. While Obi-Wan Kenobi is a new, original story within the Skywalker Saga, a lot of the universe around the show had already been built by the original films, the prequels, and the animated series. The Grand Inquisitor, The Fifth Brother, and the concept of Inquisitors in general – all of which came from Star Wars Rebels – are an example.
However, nothing exemplifies Disney’s biggest Star Wars problem than Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s Order 66 scene. As much as Obi-Wan’s story is deeply connected to the fall of the Jedi order, opening the Obi-Wan Kenobi series with yet another flashback to Order 66 was not an inspired idea. In fact, almost every Star Wars show by Disney has revisited Order 66 in some way. Star Wars: The Clone Wars followed Ahsoka, Rex, and Maul during the tragic day; The Bad Batch retconned Kanan’s Order 66 memories and The Book of Boba Fett did same for Grogu. Order 66 is undoubtedly one of the most important moments in all of Star Wars, but reusing it instead of creating new landmarks for the saga is both a cause and a symptom of Disney’s problems with Star Wars.
Adding a new legacy to Star Wars‘ long and complex story is not easy, but 10 years after Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, the saga should be able to have new, iconic moments. By having so much content, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Mandalorian, and The Book of Boba Fett, all set in such a short period of time, Star Wars risks going back to the same famous characters and events that audiences already know so well. Granted, nostalgia can be a powerful tool for a canon as big as Star Wars‘, but that could only get it so far, as proven by the successive box office drops from Star Wars: The Force Awakens to the last two films in the sequel trilogy. The Star Wars shows on Disney+ should, in theory, offer more creative liberty for creators – and yet all of those, including Obi-Wan Kenobi, are repeating old Star Wars mistakes.
It is more difficult for Obi-Wan Kenobi to present new ideas given when the show is set what it is about, but that does not mean the Star Wars show had to play the same Order 66 trick. As long as Star Wars continues relying on iconic moments from the past, it will be difficult for the saga to progress. After Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s finale concludes its prequel story, it will be interesting to see if upcoming Star Wars shows, regardless of the time period, will be able to avoid the nostalgia problem.
