‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Trailer Freakout
01:49:59 Share

I'm Matt Bellany, founding partner of Puck News, and I'm covering the inside conversation about money and power in Hollywood. With my new show, The Town, I'm going to take you inside Hollywood with exclusive insight on what people in show business are actually talking about. Multiple times a week, I'll talk to some of the smartest people I know, journalists, insiders, all of whom can break down the hottest topics in entertainment to tell you what's really going on. Listen now. ♪

- This episode is brought to you by Experian. I don't know if you've ever looked in your subscriptions on your phone and noticed that you had like four or five subscriptions. Maybe you didn't realize you were still paying for, or maybe you got some email for something and you're like, "I thought I canceled that." Well, this is what happens. These days anyone could be missing out on savings from subscriptions they've totally forgotten about. It's not just the ones you forgot to get rid of, it's the ones that they have better deals.

And that's where Experian comes in. It's like a personal assistant for your subscriptions. It can cancel over 200 plus subscriptions in categories like streaming services, meal kits, entertainment apps, and more. You could save an average of $270 per year

Plus, they'll even let you know if your provider offers you a better deal to stick around. Find out how much you could save by downloading the Experian app today. Results will vary. Not all subscriptions eligible. Savings not guaranteed. $207 a year average.

Estimated savings of one plus cancellation. Paid membership with connected payment accounts required. See Experian.com for details. This episode is brought to you by Alien Romulus, the scariest movie of the summer. Alien Romulus is now playing in theaters everywhere, including IMAX. This movie looks terrifying.

And I cannot wait to see it. Alien Romulus comes from Fede Alvarez, the director of intense horror movies like Evil Dead and Don't Breathe. And it is produced by the legendary Ridley Scott, the mastermind behind iconic films like Blade Runner and the original Alien. Can't wait for this one. Alien Romulus, rated R, now playing only in theaters. Get your tickets now. He claims to be the property of an Obi-Wan Kenobi. Is he a relative of yours? Do you know who he's talking about?

Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan. Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time. Greetings and welcome into the Ringerverse and into our hearts here on the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Mallory Rubin and it is my absolute pleasure to invite you not only back to

to the Fortress Inquisitorious, but also to join us on the Ringer's Nexus podcast feed for all things fandom. My heart is already racing. And it is one of the thrills of my life to say that joining me today, swirling her saber and ready to explain that the key to hunting Jedi is patience. It's my house of our...

working title co-host joanna robinson hello there hello there that sounds like it sounds like you think i need to work on my tan which i'm willing to take that note uh as a person who pretty much always needs to work on on their tan i would literally never dare tell anybody else that joanna joanna

Listen, I don't want to be hyperbolic. I don't want to overstate things, but it's an incredible day. It's a magical day. It's a house of our high holy day. It's Obi-Wan Kenobi teaser trailer breakdown day. And we are going to be deep diving into this one minute and 46 seconds.

second trailer by toasting what we loved. We're going to break down 10 of our favorite highlights from the teaser. Some of those things will be very specific in nature. Some of them will not be. Some of them will be how we feel, you know? We are also going to answer some mailbag questions at the end because we got a lot and they were amazing. A lot of people are excited about this trailer. Now, some people might be wondering, I thought you guys said you were going to talk about Pixar today. What happened?

I'm glad you asked. General Kenobi. This guy happened. Rest assured, we will still be potting about the newest Pixar film, Turning Red, which we loved. And we will be introducing our Pixar Hall of Fame to celebrate Pixar's 25th film. We'll now be doing that on Monday. Getting a bonus top of the week Monday pod. And then later next week,

On the programming reminders front, the Midnight Boys, pew, pew, will be diving into the Netflix Marvel canon as it hits Disney Plus. Exciting times. Earlier this week, by the way, the Midnight Boys shared their real-time reactions to the Obi-Wan trailer. They were recording as the trailer dropped. They watched it together. You can hear their instant, quite literally instant reactions. It's a lot of fun. Can I do an impression of it? It goes like this. Please. Let's go! Is that the Luke?

There's a lot of screaming around the world as we all watch this trailer. Midnight Boys also kept the Batman pod train rolling and revealed their greatest hits from the DC animated universe. So check that out as well. Now, of course, you can follow all of that by following the pod on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, following the ringer verse on our various social feeds.

For today, please bear in mind our friendly neighborhood spoiler warning. Today's podcast will feature a detailed breakdown of the first Obi-Wan trailer, the teaser trailer, and that means speculation. Speculation about what might await in this impending show based on what we're seeing here in this trailer, what we know from official Disney reports, what we know from official casting announcements, etc.,

On the spoiler front, we have obviously not seen Obi-Wan Kenobi, the television show yet, but anything from existing Star Wars canon before that, the prequel trilogy to the OG trilogy, the Clone Wars to Star Wars Rebels. Mallory's like sweaty dreams that she's had about Ewan McGregor. I mean, yeah. No, sir.

Just those will probably come up a time or two today. I feel confident. Comics and novelizations, all of it. It's all fair game today. So proceed with more caution than, I don't know, than Anakin did when Obi-Wan told him quite clearly that he had the high ground. Okay. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. You know, for me, fitness has always been about finding that groove, whether it's hitting the pavement outside, which I've done a lot of, or dialing up a sweat session indoors.

Whatever it is, summer just amplifies that drive. It's the prime time season to level up your fitness routine. Peloton gets that. They've got programs that cater to every runner out there. Seriously, 457,000 members have worked out with their running programs. And especially in the summer, if it's super hot, you don't want to work out outside, stay indoors, hit the Peloton. So whether you're training for a marathon or just looking to improve your pace, they've got you covered with everything on the Peloton Tread, Tread Plus, or

or the Peloton app. It's like having your own personal coach with you or right at home in your living room. Call yourself a runner with Peloton at onepeloton.com slash running. All right, Joe.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, six episodes debuting May 25th on Disney+, directed by Deborah Chow, who of course has directed two episodes of The Mandalorian, Chapter 3 and Chapter 7, written by Joby Harold. And this takes place 10 years after Revenge of the Sith, nine years before A New Hope. That is where we are in the Star Wars timeline. We're going to dive right in

to what thrilled us from the trailer. And the first one is a little bit of a catch-all before we get into some more specifics. And it's going to allow us to just talk about how excited we are for a minute here. It was seeing over...

Obi-Wan Kenobi again, baby. Okay? Cannot overstate, sincerely cannot overstate the thrill of seeing Ewan McGregor reprising the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi on our screens. Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the biggest, most central, and most beloved characters in Star Wars history, and we are getting a limited series about him, and we're mere months away. This is an incredible moment for Star Wars fans, and this was an incredible trailer for

I was gasping. I was shaking. I was quivering like a grain of sand in a sandstorm. I don't know. Do grains of sand quiver? I did. When I watched this, it was just an absolute thrill. This is one of the most...

hype-inducing trailers I've ever seen, sincerely. Like, my hype level is unmatched right now. Not since... And we'll get to, like, some of the other reasons why, but, like, not since... Do you remember where you were when you saw the Force Awakens trailer? And the Millennium Falcon just came, like... Yeah. That is high on the list of trailer hype. Yeah, I was trying to think, like, when I had last felt this excited from a trailer. And I guess, like...

Game of Thrones season six, season seven trailers, maybe? It's like a similar thing because however people feel about Force Awakens now, and your mileage may vary, I still love it, but that's fine. But like the Millennium Falcon and then Han freaking Solo, this is to your point, Han freaking Solo, after Harrison Ford had said for years and years and years, I don't want to do this again.

They somehow got Harrison Ford back into the Flyboy jacket. Chewbacca's there. Chewie, we're home. Like, incredible trailer. Similar feelings of rapturous joy seeing Ewan McGregor back in the old Jedi bathrobe in the desert. Just incredible, incredible stuff. Remarkable. And listen, like, we will try not to make this entire podcast episode Ringerverse After Dark, but gotta say...

Our guy is looking great. I mean, he is looking great. I just want to thank all of our listeners who not only listen to our show, engage with our show, but I think really seek to understand and know us. I would say that 70% of the mailbag questions we received this week were some version of, are you two okay? And some version of, fuck, marry, kill for the various...

Versions of Obi-Wan across the timeline. Joe, I felt so seen. Mallory and I have like a long standing, like deep, deep core love for Ewan McGregor and for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Mallory has an assortment. I got a tour of them, an assortment of Obi-Wans, like peppering her apartment, incredible stuff. Um,

I told Mallory that I had this – there's this like Vanity Fair cover story with Ewan from 1998 that I had that it was like called A Star's War or something like that, that I had torn out and hung up in my like childhood bedroom. Like we have been on this train and as excited as we are for other properties, this is a very, very special thing for us. It is. And those of you guys who listen to like Star Wars Binge Mode know that like –

Mal's love for Obi-Wan in every iteration goes so deep. So here we are, back on the sands of Tatooine. Indeed. Indeed. So a few big picture Obi-Wan character-centric and canon timeline-centric macro notes here before we dive into some of our other bullet points and highlights. Okay.

In addition to the trailer, we got a couple other things the last couple days. We got a lot of Entertainment Weekly gems. We got a simply resplendent cover. Cover reveal. We got some photo reveals, some first look photos from the show.

And a really, I have to say, like really emotional story and read about the 17 year path to reunite Obi-Wan and Vader and Anakin. A couple lines that feel like table setters and tone setters here from the EW coverage by Dalton Ross.

One line that really stood out was this. Quote, we find Obi-Wan at the beginning of our story rather broken and faithless and beaten, somewhat given up. And then here's another quote also from McGregor, similar tone. Obi-Wan is lost. He's a broken man after what happened with the Jedi Order at the end of episode three, but also what happened with Anakin, that he lost him to the dark side. He feels an enormous amount of responsibility for that and guilt. What we hear in the trailer from Obi-Wan

matches this note for note. The opening line of the trailer takes us right in. Again, 10 years after the events of Sith, 10 years after the duel on Mustafar, right into that state of mind. The fight is done. We lost. Stay hidden. There is so much...

of that state, that emotional state, that mental state, that spiritual state, Joe, that we don't know. And that is one of the reasons I am so excited for this show. I would be thrilled to spend time with Obi-Wan at any point, but where we are in the Star Wars timeline at this moment in the canon, and we've talked about this a bit before in our hype meter and with Ben during the Boba Pots, there's just so much

such an opportunity to fill in the canon. We know, of course, Obi-Wan's main objective is to protect Luke. Rest assured, we will be talking about our glimpse of little Luke shortly.

What don't we know, though, about this moment in time and what will we learn? So many questions. Little glimpses here already thrill us like we see him. This will be another item today. Teaser just teasing, teasing item after item here. We see he's going to get off off the planet. If the inquisitors come to Tatooine, more on them soon as well. He would actually have to go to avoid risking Luke's discovery. Right. Never gets old, by the way. We can't say this enough.

Never gets old that they decided to hide Luke Skywalker with Anakin Skywalker's family and that Obi-Wan Kenobi's cover name is old Ben Kenobi. Just never gets old. I'm here. I'm here for the hype.

I have some questions based on this trailer. I'm so hyped and I'm so excited. Just amazing stuff. And yet I have some questions and I'm sure they will, they will ably answer them. But I think to your point, like that opening line of the fight is done, we lost, stay hidden. And it matches with everything that, that you mentioned from the EW article. Also, series writer, Joby Harold had a great quote about how,

where we left Obi-Wan and Mustafar and where we find Alec Guinness' version of Obi-Wan, that he's the Zen master. So what's the journey from point A to point B? And that's the question that he is interested in answering. And Joby Harold, we should say, as had been known and rumored but laid out in one of these EW articles, that there was a different writer on the show and they didn't like the direction that that show was going. Production was paused.

We thought for a while that the whole show was going to be canceled. And they brought in Joby Harold and he came in with like a really, you know, strong pitch and a lot of passion for the character. And they got really excited about his pitch. And so that's, you know, that's, that's the person running this. But I think in addition to all of that defeat that you're talking about, there is also that

We talked about this a lot when we talked about Batman, but like it's not fear for himself. And I think that use of little Luke in this trailer with stay hidden is so important, right? Because it's like,

He met little like, okay, I don't know. I'm getting ahead of us in terms of like talking about little Luke, but like he met little Anakin and then Anakin fell. And it was like, you were my brother, Anakin. I loved you. And Anakin fell. And so it's like, it's not just that he wants to stay sitting hidden for his own protection or he wants to keep a little Luke hidden so that he is protected. It's like,

He doesn't want Luke to fall. He doesn't want this new hope, this childlike innocence, to go the way that Anakin went. So I just think all of that is really beautifully articulated in seconds in this trailer, you know? Completely agree. And I think that some of the visuals that help heighten that sense of

but also deep grief and loneliness and isolation, right? And the burden of remaining remote and separate and apart in order to prevent that

a recurrence of that outcome to prevent another fall, another loss. Like seeing him, when do we get it? We get our pal, the EOP. You know, Obi-Wan arrived at the Lars homestead at the end of Sith to drop off little baby Luke on one of these guys. Of course, anyone who's seen the prequels will remember them fondly and know that you should hold your nose, you know, just a flatulence machine on legs. But to see him striding about the sand, the dunes,

On his own, similarly, one of the images that we got in the EW first look photos, that shot of Obi-Wan in the cave.

Yeah. With just like a sleeping bag, a pillow, nothing around him. The line from Dalton Ross there is, quote, where he has set up shop to watch over a young Luke Skywalker. And in the trailer at the 19 second mark, you see this great shot from behind Obi-Wan of him looking out with the Lars homestead in the distance.

And that appears to be like in front of the mouth of this cave where we know that he is camping out to monitor Luke. Now, of course, we know that Ben Kenobi had a hut, a house in the Jundland Waste, not just this cave. But even that elsewhere in canon, very sparsely populated, doesn't have a lot of possession, a lot of attachment in all sorts of forms in his life right now. And there's just something like deeply, deeply sad about those visual manifestations of all

all that he has lost. I find it, like, utterly heartbreaking, and I'm really, really looking forward to seeing how Obi-Wan is confronting that aspect of his life. Then you get shots, like, at 51 seconds, that crowded transport that he's in. Seeing him just...

in the flow of life on Tatooine is a real point of contrast. And it's like, is that just a random day or is that because he needs to escape because the inquisitors are en route? We'll hit on all of those specifics as we go, but just... It feels... Thrilling! It feels like an escape to me. It feels like him emerging from the cave. But he still looks so all alone in that shot. And I think...

Both that shot and, I mean, we should talk about visually. Like, none of the Star Wars shows have been disappointing visually, right? But there's something about the, and this might just be color correcting on the photo, but the blue wash on the cave photo. Absolutely. There's something really poignant about that in this Tatooine setting that we are so accustomed to being in oranges and yellows and stuff like that. The fact that it's like, you know, that blue wash that sort of like

We're going to talk about potential force ghosts, but like that force ghost blue, right, is like sort of what what we're dealing here. It's like a very, very haunted like color palette there. I love that observation, Joe. It also makes me think just hearing you say that of one of the first.

for Rebels fans and fans of the animated Filoniverse, one of the more iconic Obi-Wan sequences, which is in Twin Suns, the Maul episode. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is bathed in that, like, purple-blue light in the evening under the stars. Woo! All right. This is the thing that got me the most hyped. I mean, as... I gasped! Okay, as...

as I am to see Ewan McGregor's back. I've seen like all of this sort of stuff. And something we should say about Obi-Wan Kenobi, this is related. Something we should say about Obi-Wan Kenobi is that even people who do not like the prequel films tend to like Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Like even prequel haters, any of that hate slides off of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi. It is a universally popular thing. That is also true.

of one of the greatest pieces of music from one of our greatest composers of all time is Duel of the Fates. It plays at the end of Phantom Menace when Qui-Gon and Maul and Obi-Wan fight and Qui-Gon falls. And Maul falls, not permanently, but he falls. And all of that. One of the best pieces of music of all time. I just, it gets your pulse pounding, your blood racing, and it signals, I mean, this Obi-Wan Kenobi show,

So just by casting Ewan McGregor, but it signals an embrace of the prequels into this, right? Yes. Which is something this show is definitely going to be doing. It's going to be embracing that. It's a flex because unlike with much love to Ludwig Gornson and his great work on Mandalorian and...

and Much Love to the Music of Boba Fett, unlike those shows, this show has John Williams doing the score for it, which is something we learned just, I think, a couple weeks ago. And so, like...

that, uh, that is a flex. And to go back to that force awakens trailer, when the millennium Falcon crests the dune, it's to the blaring horns of like John Williams, like that, that music gets us so exciting. It's not just dual the fates in this, in this trailer here. We also hear battle of the heroes, which is what plays, um, when Obi-Wan and Anakin fight, uh, at the, at the end of the trilogy. One of my favorite sequences in star Wars history. Oh, no,

Unironically and sincerely. But it's just like, it's a beautiful piece of music that means so much, that invokes so much, invokes Qui-Gon, invokes Maul, all of this stuff. And like, I saw my Twitter feed erupt in people just talking about how excited they were for Duel of the Fates. Talk to me. Mallory, how are you feeling? Overwhelmed in like the best possible way. I just...

I really did like gasp, scream, quickly began to weep. I was immediately texting, slacking, shouting. When that, when Duel of the Fates kicked in at the 32nd mark, I think it's one of those moments. It's a little bit hard to articulate because it is such a palpable feeling. It's just like something in your bones and in your soul.

alights. Like, you feel what it means when you hear that to be a Star Wars fan. Everything, just from those notes of music, clicks together in your mind. All of the memories that you have wash over you. You think instantly of all of these characters. Everything that it evokes. And obviously, to a lesser extent, but similarly, you mentioned Battle of the Heroes. We get Anakin's dark deeds. Like, you hear those cues and you just have such a forceful association inside of Star Wars with what

those musical moments port you back to, to where the characters have been and to what that means, how that informs where they are now, all of that deep history. Like shared history is always one of our favorite things to talk about. And it's amazing when it's not just in an interaction between characters or in a line of dialogue or in a visual that you think about that, but when you hear that note and you remember. So that was just thrilling. The fact that John Williams is back for this is like, what a,

What a treat, honestly. Like, we are fortunate that this is on the horizon for us. This is just amazing. With Duel of the Fates in particular, I love your point about prequel rehab. It's something that we talked about, you

You know, we've been talking about with Star Wars coverage in general, and obviously it feels like a preoccupation in a really positive way of Filoni and Favreau, where we are with Star Wars live action and just Star Wars stories right now in general. Obviously, this show is not a Filoni and Favreau vehicle, but it feels of a piece in that sense with the larger audience.

ambition to restore faith, to restore fondness for the prequels. That was also one of the things that kind of got me emotional reading the EW story was like hearing Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor talk about

not only what it felt like to see the response to the prequels in real time and how devastating that was, but how rewarding and heartening it has been to realize that the prequel kids have this affection for them. Even if people aren't going around saying those are perfect movies, there's a fondness and a connection that we feel to those stories.

And specifically in terms of just what you associate with Duel of the Fates, it's just impossible to not hear it and think, are we going to get Force Ghost Qui-Gon? We're going to talk about that a little more later, that possibility. Are we going to get Maul? Like it just instantly sends your mind racing with theorizing and speculation and possibility.

Yeah, in terms of prequel rehab, I don't think I've told this story on the podcast, but like the moment that I understood what the prequels meant to a certain generation was when I was doing some story in line for The Force Awakens. And I was talking to a bunch of fans who were in line to see Force Awakens, fans who had been like lining up for decades, stuff like that. And like the kids there were all like our favorite movies are the prequels and I didn't.

In my cynicism. I didn't say anything. But inside I was like, really? And then I was like, you know, and then I sat with it and I thought about it. And I was like, okay, they were kids when these movies came out. Like, you know, the pod racing worked for them in the way that the Ewoks worked for me. You know, like, whatever it is. And I think that...

Having Ewan McGregor talk about coming to that realization as well and just feeling that or being on TikTok and watching like, you know, teens now do like scenes from the prequels, not just general newbie, but also like they can recite the whole story.

you know, your new empire, like showdown, like all of that, they can do it. Right. And so it's just, it's, it's, it's a nice feeling, but there are limits to it. Right. Because something that, that,

is rumored to be true of the earlier version that got scrapped, is that they were going to try to put Jar Jar Binks, and I'm not saying Jar Jar Binks isn't in this, but I don't think he's in this, but he was rumored to be in an earlier version of the Obi-Wan show. And I just think there are some limits to prequel rehab with...

With love and respect to Jar Jar Binks. You know, Jar Jar got his prequel rehab run in the Clone Wars. Jar Jar has numerous Clone Wars appearances, including a romantic arc. So Jar Jar got his moment there. Good for Jar Jar. But that works in animation, I think, better than it might in live action as well. Yes, for sure.

- This episode is brought to you by Experian. I don't know if you've ever looked in your subscriptions on your phone and noticed that you had like four or five subscriptions. Maybe you didn't realize you were still paying for, or maybe you got some email or something and you're like, "I thought I canceled that." Well, this is what happens. These days anyone could be missing out on savings from subscriptions they've totally forgotten about. It's not just the ones you forgot to get rid of, it's the ones that they have better deals.

And that's where Experian comes in. It's like a personal assistant for your subscriptions. It can cancel over 200 plus subscriptions in categories like streaming services, meal kits, entertainment apps, and more. You could save an average of $270 per year

Plus, they'll even let you know if your provider offers you a better deal to stick around. Find out how much you could save by downloading the Experian app today. Results will vary. Not all subscriptions eligible. Savings not guaranteed. $270 a year average. Estimated savings of one plus cancellation. Paid membership with connected payment accounts required. See Experian.com for details. This episode is brought to you by Vitamin Water. Food, entertainment, sports,

sports teams. New York City is one of those places that oozes choice. It's got something for every taste. So it's fitting that vitamin water was born there. It's a product of its environment. Colorful, flavorful, anything but boring. Vitamin water injects a daily dose of vibrancy into a watered-down life. So grab some vitamin water today, NYC style. Vitamin water is a registered trademark of Glasso. Next on the list...

A massive highlight, a massive thrill. The Inquisitors, Grand and otherwise, have entered live action. There's a lot to hit on here. Quick Inquisitor canon snapshot and refresher before we dive into who these characters are, who we actually met in the trailer. The Inquisitors debuted...

in Star Wars Rebels. That is the introduction. One more reminder of how crucial the Filoni-verse is to where we are in Star Wars right now, to Star Wars live action present and future. There are a lot of things that we would recommend people watch and read and catch up on before Obi-Wan. We'll try to do like a formal watch and reading list at some point for sure. But right there with the prequels and the

The original trilogy right there. Clone Wars and Rebels. It's just going to be essential here. There's a lot of comics and novels that are worth checking out too. Jedi Fallen Order. Another big one for Inquisitor's canon. This is the recent Star Wars video game. Second Sister and Ninth Sister.

big characters in Fallen Order. The fortress is a location in that game. The fact that we see the fortress Inquisitorius in this trailer very clearly, and it's like an instant connection for Jedi Fallen Order gaming fans, has gotten people buzzing about whether we might see Cal, Kestis, and perhaps... I mean, most people were talking about Cal. I was immediately like, I wonder if we'll see BD-1 again. I just...

So painfully on brand in every respect, Joe. And then Vader comics. The Inquisitors are a big part of the excellent Chris Soule, Star Wars, Darth Vader, Darth Lord of the Sith comic run. So I would highly recommend checking it. I mean, you should really just check out that comic run in general. It is sublime, but a lot of Inquisitor canon there. Their general deal is,

The log line for the Inquisitors is that they're the Empire's Jedi-hunting, force-sensitive army. They are force-users.

dark side adepts pursuing Jedi who survived the great purge. But why stop there? Let's go hunt for sensitive children and prevent them from potentially turning to the light. They're a bunch of sickos, Joe. They're seeking to eradicate the Jedi order in full. Now, this is, of course, all part of Palpatine's and the emperor and the emperor's grand design. But Vader is

He's their boss. So there's a lot of Vader-Inquisitor interactions in the existing canon, and I think that we will see that in this show as well. It's my early prediction for where we will see him most before we build to the Obi-Wan scene. They use Inquisitorious lightsabers. Very, very cool. Double-bladed. They have this circular contraption in the middle, and they spin.

We see some of the spinning in the trailer. You know what else you can do with the spinning lightsaber of your force user? You can use it as a little helicopter flight tool, which they do. Love that. Love that.

Any just general big picture responses to seeing the Inquisitors? And certainly based on this trailer, it looks like they're going to be a huge, huge, huge part of this show. Primary antagonists in this show, at least based on this initial trailer. Can I talk about some casting stuff? Let's do it. Let's go through all of them. All right. Let me just start with one and then I will throw to you, which is Rupert Friend. So Jason Isaacs,

Lucius Malfoy, to those who might not know. Anyway, Jason Isaacs, the great Jason Isaacs, voiced the Grand Inquisitor in Rebels.

And he even had expressed interest in playing the character live action. So I think the number one negative response that I saw to the trailer, and I didn't have this response myself, but the number one negative response I saw were from people who felt emotionally attached to the Grand Inquisitor's design in Rebels and Ellis Ware, which is a much, it's a stretched out alien design. And they've cast...

The great, great actor, Rupert Friend. I just love him. They've cast him as the Grand Inquisitor. You know, he's been in... All my Homeland heads out there. Homeland, Quinn, Death to Stalin. He's fantastic in Death to Stalin. He's Wickham in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, etc. He's here looking, you know, kind of egg-heady as the Grand Inquisitor here. Yeah.

So some people are a little nervous about that. Here's what I will say. Did you hear him in the trailer? Because he gets the, he gets the lion share of the lines in the trailer. Yes. And for a split second, I thought before we saw him, I thought it was Palpatine talking. Cause he has that sort of like Ian McDermott, like, yeah, like weird vowel sounds. I think he sounds incredible. I don't, I don't mind how he looks. He sounds incredible. And I feel convinced that,

that this portrayal from this great actor is going to quickly dispel any questions that people have around the design. That being said, it was a hot bummer on the Star Wars Reddit. It was like, everyone was just complaining about this character's design. I was like, but did you hear Duel of the Fates? Anyway. Yes. Yes. It was, despite the differences in the design and specifically the height of his forehead,

It was like an amazing treat to see the Grand Inquisitor in live action. Like, Ringer Star Wars Slack was blowing up about a lot of things, but everyone who's seen Rebels was like, holy shit, it's the Grand Inquisitor. This is unbelievable.

And I'm really glad you mentioned that he was, in essence, the primary narrator of the trailer because his lines were fucking bangers. Not just the delivery, but the actual substance of what he was saying. Hit me with some of them, please. 37 seconds into the trailer, we hear him say, I was going to read it really slowly, but I know we're on the clock, so I'll just read it in a more normal voice. No, I won't. I'm going to... Do the voice. Do the voice. The key. I can't do it. I just...

Then at 50 seconds, we hear him say, and this was my favorite, because in addition to being a great line to get you excited for the trailer, this taps in Joe to something that it's one of like our recurring areas of interest and discussion points across Star Wars stories, right? Yeah.

the nature of the Jedi Order, the nature of the Jedi Outlook. He says, 50 second mark in the trailer, Jedi cannot help what they are. Their compassion leaves a trail. The Jedi code is like an itch. He cannot help it. This is an incredible mission statement for a villain in this show because it takes something

That tends to be held up as an ideal, even when, you know, we as fans critique it or other characters inside of the universe critique it and seeks to warp it and invert it and weaponize it. The thing that these characters like Obi-Wan have built their lives around, oriented their worldview around would be great.

the weakness in their opponent's eye. That's just a solid, solid foundation for an oppositional force to enter the story. And cool background on this character, um...

Yeah. First of all, his line read of like, it is an each. Like, it's just good stuff. The way he says, where is he? When he's swirling the blade seemingly on the new planet, die you in that scene. That's at 111. Just amazing stuff. That this character, the Grand Inquisitor was a Jedi temple guard. And so the fact that he was part of the Jedi order and,

And is now stands in such strong, similar to Vader stands in such strong opposition to the Jedi. That's so interesting in an antagonist to have someone who's like critiquing the whole system from the inside, from experience. He's like, I know these, I know these guys. Yeah.

And ladies, and I know, I know how they think and let's, let's, let's go hunt them. So yeah, I'm really excited for this as like seemingly, I mean, other than Vader, who's definitely going to be here, a main active antagonist for us in this, in this show.

But not the only Inquisitor, right? No. I will just say quickly to that point about his history as a Jedi Temple guard. Like, one of the specific reveals in Rebels is that he was involved in...

as a guard in the Ahsoka Barriss Jedi Temple bombing plot that ultimately led to Ahsoka leaving the Jedi Order. That's like a crucial, crucial moment in Jedi history and canon. So the fact that he has a connection to another main character in that way is just also really interesting. Again, if you're interested in learning more about the Grand Inquisitor, he's like one of the primary antagonists in Rebel Season 1, which is set in

5 BBY. No need to spoil exactly where things net out, but he makes it beyond Obi-Wan Kenobi, depending on how long Obi-Wan Kenobi goes, I guess. But he's a big part of Rebels. Okay, the next main Inquisitor we meet in this trailer is a new character, Reva, the third sister. This is Moses Ingram from The Queen's Gambit. And we have not met

the third sister, anywhere in Star Wars before. This is brand new. And she was a huge part of the trailer.

Part of the trailer and part of the photo dump, too, that we got from EW. Like, it was mostly just, like, Ewan McGregor and Moses Ingram in those photos. Her character design looks amazing. And she seems to be... You know, she's mixing it up on Tatooine. We see her... I mean, we'll talk about this a little bit more down the line. But, like, we see her come face-to-face with Uncle Owen. She's, like, she's causing havoc in the marketplace, essentially. And we see her on the other planet. So she is someone...

who, you know, it reminds me of, like, Tommy Lee Jones of The Fugitive. Like, every outhouse, every henhouse. Like, you know, we're going to find what we're looking for. And she's the unstoppable force. And I'm really excited for her to be here. And I think they've teased her. I mean, so in the EW, in the photo gallery, Deb Chao and Joby Harreld, they described her as ruthlessly ambitious. But I think I've also, like, heard that

They're thinking she's going to be the huge breakout from this show. And I'm excited for that. So, yeah. Amazing. And we get to see her in so many different locations and with so many different characters in the trailer, which is really exciting. Yeah. We also see the fifth brother, another character from Star Wars Rebels, played here by another great love of ours, Sung Kang, a.k.a. Han, from the Fast franchise. Hello.

This is just a wonderful, wonderful moment. He's visible in a couple different spots in the trailer. Best look probably comes at 115. Don't know how big of a role he will have, but very excited that he's in Star Wars. Then there's a mysterious fourth Inquisitor. Not sure who this character is. We don't have a name yet, so we have some more to learn about who this other character is. It's probably worth just very quickly mentioning that

some other Inquisitors from elsewhere in the story who we know this is probably not, or just who have come into the story in a key way. Very quick rundown here of a few other members of the Inquisitorius. The second sister, Trilla, mentioned already, but big part of Jedi Fallen Order. The sixth brother is a huge one. One of the things that I would recommend people check out before Obi-Wan is the novel Ahsoka, which I'm going to talk about a couple times today, I think.

Ahsoka gets her now iconic white lightsaber blades by defeating the sixth brother, taking red kyber crystals and purifying them to build these new blades. Seventh sister, character in Rebels, eighth brother, character in Rebels, etc. We don't just see the people, Joe. We see the place. We see the Fortress Inquisitor as visible via ship approach at the 42nd mark of

We see inside the fortress at the 52 second mark of the trailer, which is really awesome. This underwater conference room. We had seen some official concept art previously of this area. Just very, very, very cool. And this is located, worth mentioning, on Nur.

which is a moon in the Mustafar system. So this is like next door to Mustafar. So, so, so close to Vader's base, Fortress Vader. Think about the Krennic sequence in Rogue One when we're on Fortress Vader. One more reason to think that we're going to see a lot of Vader Inquisitor action in shared scenes is

The fortress here is their HQ. It's partially underwater, as we see. It's a torture hub. A lot of very dark, dismaying stuff happens there. This is basically their conversion chamber, in addition to their meeting room, for turning light side force users into inquisitors. And it's one of the, as mentioned in Falling Order, it's one of the main settings there for a key moment with the Second Sister. Very grave sequence that you could either...

enjoy it directly by playing the game or just check out on YouTube. And something, I mean, something we should say about the Inquisitors have to be terrifying because one of the challenges of this show is that we know that Obi-Wan Kenobi has sworn to

to sit in Tatooine and protect Luke Skywalker. So what could get him off the planet? What could possibly move him from the cave? We're going to talk about, you know, where he goes and whatever, but I think it was a relief to some people to see that we're not just going to be on Tatooine in the series, but like what is going to move him and the presence of the inquisitors on the planet. I think this is a good segue into our next, our next thing. Little Luke Skywalker. Yeah.

Okolo and Amber in the large homestead, like very little, very little is shown in this trailer, but we do get all of that. And seeing little Luke, who may never share a scene with Ewan McGregor, that's entirely possible in this series. But seeing little Luke there, of course, like the first person you think of is Anakin Skywalker, right? He's wearing pod racing goggles. Like that's who you're going to think of.

But for me, it also invoked one of my favorite moments from The Force Awakens, which is Rey and her little, like, helmet having her little meal outside. You know what I mean? Just, like, I think there's this through line of –

to Luke to Ray in those, in those shots. But yeah, like we knew that Joel Edgerton was going to be in the show. I was a little surprised to see like how much of the him there is in this trailer, but I suppose I shouldn't be. We know that there's going to be tension between Obi-Wan and, and Owen. Cause like Owen is like, I don't want you training Luke, like all of this sort of stuff. So that is also a really, really interesting part of all of this.

Again, my big question, the big question they're going to have to answer is like, it already beggared belief how the Empire never found Luke Skywalker back on Tatooine with the name Skywalker. Yeah.

So the fact that the Inquisitors are at least one Inquisitor is here on the planet and doesn't, and is supposed to be really good at her job, doesn't set you up. Or does she? I mean, like, I don't know. We don't know what's going to happen. But like, as far as we know, Luke Skywalker was never discovered. So like, I'm very curious to see how they answer all of that. It's a great note. And it's, I think like this, honestly, the single biggest risk of the show.

Like, of deciding to make the show. Sorry, go ahead. No, no, no, go ahead. Well, that and moving Obi-Wan off planet at all.

Because, like, the whole idea of Obi-Wan when he comes back into the mix is, like, this is a guy who's been out of action for the entirety of the time since we saw him in Revenge of the Sith, right? Like, that's the whole sort of idea of, like, you get the old gunslinger out of the cave, like, back in action and stuff like that. So if he's running around the galaxy in this series, and I am confident they're going to figure this out, but, like, if he's running around, it takes a little bit of

Of weight off this whole like what finally got him out of the cave and back into the universe because he already did it nine years ago. You know what I mean? I know this is making me sound like a wet blanket and I don't mean to be, but like these are just questions that I think the show is going to have to address. No. Yeah, I think that's completely reasonable. I don't. So I don't. I don't have as much concern. I think it's a really good point. I don't have quite as much concern about that just because I think there are enough, even though there are.

relatively speaking, compared to other swaths of Star Wars canon, sparse. There are enough moments where we see Obi-Wan do something. You know, have a showdown with our pal, Chrysanthemum, for example, or get involved, you know, with the Jabba the Hutt water drought tax, or any number of other things. And,

So I don't mind that because I think the logic there is tight, which is, yes, you're right. You still have to explain. And that gets back to the the the Joby quote that you shared earlier about I want to understand basically this bridge from this person to this person and how we got there in a relatively speaking short span of time.

You know, when you see Obi-Wan face off with Maul in Rebels, that's on Tatooine, of course, and that's in 2 BBY. So that's very, very, very close to A New Hope. He is snowy of beard. He is snowy of beard. Absolutely is not. He's snowy of beard, but I would say even then he has like a...

different disposition from what we see in A New Hope. Certainly closer to the New Hope Obi-Wan, but still a different person. And so I think that there's a lot of change in a short span of time. But at least getting him off planet here tracks logically because of the prime ambition.

at all costs is to protect Luke. They're not there, as we just stated, for Luke. They don't know who Luke is. Amazingly, astoundingly, bafflingly. Right. They are there for Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan is the one they're hunting.

And so, you know, there are other parts of Star Wars. I mean, in Rebels, we get to see them hunt Ezra and Kanan. In Ahsoka's novel, we see them hunt Ahsoka. You can see the relentless nature of their pursuit when a Jedi is on their radar. Now, I think one of the very, very reasonable questions to ask is,

Not just how did they not at some point piece together who Luke is, especially if there's direct interactions with Owen, but if they thought Obi-Wan was on Tatooine ever at any point and then he goes back, this is my big thing. Like if he then goes back,

You get why he would leave. He's taking the Inquisitor. He's drawing them. He's using himself as bait, I would think. Maybe he has another mission or another thing he needs to go do. But okay, they'll follow me. I know they will. And that's the only way Luke will be safe is if I'm not here, actually.

He goes back. We know he goes back and that he's there for many, many, many years. Maybe he leaves his other points, but it's largely there. So at no point do they track him there again. We know, again, that the Inquisitors are active in Rebels. So that part is a little weird and that's my one concern is like, how are they going to explain how those characters never went

back and checked in again. Maybe Reva will not be alive by that point in the timeline, but we know the fifth brother is. We know the Grand Inquisitor is when Rebels kicks off in 5, you know, 4 BBY. So that part is a little like

it gives me a little bit of trepidation of whether we'll leave this series feeling like we have more questions than we should about that. But let me just say, when I see at the 22 second mark that Obi-Wan is watching through his, his binox looking out at the moisture farm at the Lars homestead, and then two seconds later, we see little Luke piloting atop his doorway. I, I,

I have a hard time like really harping on any of that because it's just so incredible. It's just so incredible. It's so exciting. You mentioned that there's at least one Inquisitor on Tatooine and I just want to share one of the truly deranged things that I did, which is go frame by frame of the trailer and see how many shots appear to show Inquisitors on Tatooine. And I'd like to share this with you now if you'll indulge me for a moment. I love you so much, please. Because it's a lot.

The fifth brother and the Grand Inquisitor appear to be on Tatooine. I am really not certain, but pretty sure at the 44 second mark, they appear to be on a desert planet. Check the 44 second mark. Tell me if you think I'm wrong, but I think very quickly we see them on Tatooine. If the Grand Inquisitor is on Tatooine, that's like big shit.

The townspeople of the salt flats of the Jundland Waste are all gathered. This is where we see Owen in this group for this like mass interrogation at the 53 second mark. We see dangling feet, very like alarming, yikes inducing. That's when we see Reva there with them looking angry at the 55 second mark. Owen there at the 57 second mark. We see what I thought was an Inquisitor ship landing, which is around 101. But then I thought maybe that's not because an Inquisitor ship, I think I thought it was. But then the next shot we see is your gal

And Daravarma, who we'll get to later. Yes, and I don't know if she would be traveling with them or separately. Obviously, she's an Imperial officer based on her garb. And then we see Reva attacking someone. We have a theory on who that someone might be in a Tatooine cafe at 118. So I think we see basically all of the Inquisitors who are featured in this trailer, or at least three of the four of them on Tatooine, unless I'm wrong about that shot at 44 seconds, which is possible. I don't know.

I mean, it doesn't look, I'm looking at it right now, it doesn't look unlike Tatooine. It could be Tatooine, right? It could be.

It definitely could be. It's an, it's like an indoor outdoor structure that definitely could be Tatooine or it could be Jakku. Um, you know what I mean? But like, it could be, definitely could be. Uh, I'm glad also that you mentioned the, the, the kind of like tension between Owen and Obi-Wan. Cause I'm, I'm really hopeful that that's like, on the one hand, I'm hopeful that Obi-Wan is off Tatooine by like midway through the first episode. But on the other hand, I hope that that's kind of like a through line of the season. Cause that, that's, that's comics canon. Uh, uh,

You could check out the Jason Aaron Star Wars 15 has some interesting snapshots of that. It's just like Owen did not want Obi-Wan to train Luke and actually felt that part of his mission to protect Luke was to not allow Jedi near Luke and to not allow Luke near the Jedi way of life. So there's going to be like a really interesting tension there that I'm excited to see come to the fore.

But we actually got a mailbag question. We're going to hit the mailbag later, but there's one that feels really like contextually relevant here. Jomie, I don't know. Do you want to join us for this one in the flow mailbag? I absolutely can join you. This question comes from Matt, Matt Liang, and he wants to know, what do you make of the creators? Thank God, George Lucas cast Joel Edgerton comment.

Are we going to see a yoked Uncle Owen? I don't think Owen ever takes the moisture farming robes off, to be honest with you, until they are burned from his body. But I think that's just a comment, the fact that Joel Edgerton was so young and it was pre-Joel Edgerton fame. And so I think Deb Chow is just saying like,

We could bring back the rando actor that was Uncle Owen, but we get to bring back Joel Edgerton, who has done so much work since that he's a fun, familiar face to put in here. What do you think, Mel? So you think it's more like it's really cool to have Joel Edgerton in this and less like... Is there any chance that comment points to him being like, I don't know,

the second or third main character in the show or something? Like, is there a chance that he has like a really, really huge amount of screen time? Could be. Well, it could be.

But I don't think so. I think it's, like, sort of stands in contract to the fact that, Lord bless her, the actress Cassis Beru has not had a huge career since. So you're not like, oh, my God, they got the original Beru. You know what I mean? But, like, Joel Edgerton, not that Joel Edgerton's, like, the most famous person in the world, but, like, he's done a ton of work since then. Most...

memorably to me wearing the tightest pants possible in the great Gatsby as Tom Buchanan but that's what I think I mean it could be but I think if we're leaving Tatooine and my guess and I don't know this but my guess would be

that the footage that they showed us are from like the first two episodes. Right? Like, I feel this way too. And this gets us to our next, our next highlight, which is locations other than Tatooine. Um,

We've already gotten to this a bit. I think we could... We feel this way, and I think a lot of Star Wars fans probably feel this way, a relief to see definitively that we will not be spending the entire series on Tatooine. We already mentioned that we're going to be going to the Fortress Inquisitorius at a minimum, but we'd see also a new location, a new planet. Per EW, this is called Daiyu.

which is, quote, which, quote, sort of has a Hong Kong feel to it. This is from Joby Harold. It's got a graffiti-ridden nightlife and it's kind of edgy. It's just got a different lane and a different feeling. We see a ton of shots that seem to be set on this location. So,

One, it indicates that we'll be spending a decent amount of time there. But two, I agree with what you just said, which is I'm just going to assume that every single thing we've seen in this trailer is the beginning of the show and that we're not seeing anything or close to nothing from the back two thirds of the season, which then makes me think, well, where will we go after this? How many other places might we go? Maybe we're going to planet hop, which would be really fun.

I mean, I would love a different planet per episode. If we had like a Tatooine episode for episode one and then a Dayu episode for episode two, like that would be really, really fun. And just like have Obi-Wan hopping around. I think that could be great. Did you get Madripoor vibes off of this Dayu location?

Yeah, that's a good comp. Also, our pal and colleague Daniel Chin mentioned a Blade Runner vibe in his trailer breakdown for TheRinger.com, which I also definitely got. I also just, I did get some like, and I think Daniel mentioned this too actually, just like lower levels of Coruscant like Clone Wars episode vibes where you're in a lot of

you know, bars and shops and alleyways that have, like, bright neon lights and people up to no good. And, you know, it's not necessarily, like, a totally unfamiliar Star Wars setting, but Magibor is a fun cop, especially in the idea that, like, maybe, you know...

you know, after like after after the way we saw Madripoor recently on Disney Plus, maybe it's a place that we go and spend a little bit of time and feel like we like got to be somewhere new, but we're not. That's not our primary setting. It's a place we visit. I would think so. The birds, the birds that we see at the end at the 125 mark. I don't know what these birds

creatures are. I wondered, and I think other people have wondered if they could be convores, which are owls, but they do have these long tails. And most famously, Ahsoka, her convore Mirai is just a little, just a gem. But I think the fact that they were featured in the trailer and that cool shot could just be like, this is visually interesting and compelling or could indicate

Something bigger? I don't know. And then another thing, like, I don't know, actually, if this is on Dayu. Couldn't tell for sure. But there's that one shot at 122 of, like, graffiti writing messages etched into a wall. Don't know where that is definitively.

Don't know what it's saying or who's touching it, but it feels important because we lingered on it. And so I thought I would mention it. I think it's based on the... Well, actually, I guess I can't tell for certain. I think it's Reva based on the, like, armor of the person, right? There's, like...

extreme shoulder pads happening so and we do get a good amount of reva action clearly on dayu in this trailer we see reva at the 59 second mark and the 110 second mark etc on this new planet we see the fifth brother at 115 on this planet that mysterious fourth inquisitor at 105 on this planet looks like i think that looks like the setting where the grand inquisitor is when he says um when he

when he says that, where is he lying at 111? So it seems like all of the Inquisitors are there in pursuit of Obi-Wan. And of course we see Obi-Wan. That I will agree with. They're definitely all on dive. That's definitely true. I think it's, I think it's Reva. Like, cause the very, like that, that's her shoulder armor. And the very next shot is of her. That's not necessarily a guarantee in a trailer, but like the very next shot is of her. All right. Speaking of other very cool women in this cast, Indira Varma, Lannister,

Long time favorite of mine. Obviously, she is a Game of Thrones alum. That's where a lot of people know her, but she's done a lot of great work outside of... I always associate her most, even still, after Thrones with Rome.

Rome is a great one. Bride and Prejudice is a great one to bring up another Jane Austen project. Luther, she's great on, you know, she's just been doing fantastic work for so long, but, you know, she of the iconic scream on Game of Thrones. She's an Imperial officer. And just something that I want to say, and you can, you can let me know. I mean, I know that there are a ton of examples elsewhere, but at least in live action, you know,

it still feels like a rarity to see a female Imperial officer, right? We have not gotten as many featured live-action characters as we have on the animated side. Like, in Rebels, we have Price, for example, who I'm spending a lot of time with right now, by the way, because I'm reading the Thrawn books, which, like,

I could not recommend more strongly. Actually, it's interesting on this item, an Imperial item, to be reading these books that are set in this general swath of time from the Empire perspective. The Empire had a lot of

A lot of infighting. A lot of shit going wrong. I'll say that. One of the questions I have, though, Joe, to that point is how present will she be? How big of a character will she be? Because there's a part of me that thinks like, why cast her if you're not going to feature her? This is an incredible actor, an incredible performer. Magnetic. But then Star Wars does that all the time, right? Like, it would be heartbreaking if we only got like three scenes, but we could. Yeah.

Well, like, especially Star Wars TV does that, where they're like, here's a phenomenal actor and they're going to be in one episode, you know? So that might be true of Indira Varma. This feels like a little less like in that Mando territory. Like, he might be planet hopping, but it still feels like we have a core cadre of characters around him. I hope Indira Varma gets plenty to do. She looks crackerjack in her uniform. I'm delighted she's here. Striding. Striding.

striding off of that ship. It was just important to me that we talk about Adara Barba, so I'm glad that we did. I support it fully. I support all of your passions, and I hope that she's a big part of the show. Here's what I want. I want every one of these episodes to be like four hours long. So just like coming in just shy of how long each of our podcasts about the episodes will be. Yep. Next up, Jo. This one might seem strange, but I felt compelled. It's very good.

The lightsaber logo work. This manifested in a couple different ways, and I think that these are just little messages and little clues. First of all, there's a lightsaber in the show wordmark, in the show logo, the eye in Kenobi. Very cool. Also, the blue blade and whoosh of Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber is incorporated into the closing Disney logo, which they didn't have to do, and they did. And maybe they did it just because it sounds and looks fucking awesome.

Because it does. But I think it's there as a little wink to us. You know, as we mentioned, the Inquisitors hunting him, he's not going to be able to use a lightsaber or he at least would be reluctant to because that would be

akin to waving a giant sign that says, you are correct, I am a Jedi. Yes, I am the one. I am the one you're looking for. Those might not be the droids you're looking for, but I am the Jedi you're looking for because I just activated my lightsaber. So he's going to be very, very, very reluctant to do that. There are some instances in the trailer where it appears, we'll talk about one of them in a minute, where he might be using a blaster. So uncivilized. Yeah.

Not because he wants to or likes to, but because he would have to if he's engaging in battle and fighting to protect himself and can't use a saber. But what do these things tell us? They're signals that we will get the saber before long. We will not, maybe we'll have to wait, but we won't have to wait forever. He will need to unsheathe his sword and there's nothing we like better than a Obi-Wan Kenobi unsheathing his sword, Joe. Oh my, oh my God. You're working blue lightsaber right now. Amazing. Can I just say,

people feel really confident that Vader and Obi-Wan are going to fight in this show at some point. Lightsaber fight in this show. It speaks to another potential retcon that they're going to have to do. Yes. Because how do we feel about what Vader says to Obi-Wan in A New Hope, if that's the case? That being said, I do not think they can help themselves. They will not be able to resist.

giving this to us. Yes, I agree. We have a Vader-centric item coming up soon, so I'll save my bullet point laundry list here. But I actually think we can say this is a lock and they've already told us. I don't even think we have to say it's probable or likely. This is a guarantee. Okay, never mind. We're going to talk about Vader in a minute. Anything else you want to say about the lightsaber? I think this brilliant...

deduction work. And that brings me to actually my personal favorite section.

Mallory just showed me her Obi-Wan bomb head Funko Pop with the blue lightsaber. You know, I have an Obi-Wan lightsaber. I do. Unsheathed. I know, you promised me you were going to bring it to the recording, and yet, where is it? All right, so number three, this is my personal favorite, because this is my favorite thing. This is my favorite thing to do with a trailer. Rampant speculation. Okay, we're calling this item Mysterious Backs of Heads, Sides of Bodies, Blaster Holsters, and Metal Faces.

Oh my God. Let's hit the number one question. Unbelievable. We have four main items, sub items here. Number one, a showdown in the alley at around the 150 mark in the trailer between Reva and someone with a blaster. Tons of people think this is Han Solo. You make an incredible case that this is merely Obi-Wan Kenobi with a blaster.

I think you're right. But if you've heard people on the streets saying, I think I saw Han Solo in the trailer, this is what they're talking about. They're talking about a shadowy figure in a blaster. I'll just say this. Whatever this person's wearing who's holding a blaster, it looks like a longish Jedi robe to me and not a sporty little jacket that Han Solo would be wearing. What do you think? So...

Listen, sides of bodies. Backs of heads, sides of bodies. We spent a solid like 10% of our Boba Fett pods talking about whether Kira might show up. I'm happy to speculate about whether this is Han. It definitely could be. Could be. Solo, a Star Wars story, hashtag make Solo 2 happen.

I'm speaking on behalf of myself and our pal Ben Limburg because he's not here to say it to you, Joe. Oh, Ben Kenobi. You know, think of one of the things that Han says at the end of that movie, which concludes in 10 BBY, which is just one year before 9 BBY, which is when the show is set. He's like, I'm going to go to Tatooine and hook up with this guy Jabba the Hutt I keep hearing all these great things about. Seems like an awesome place to work.

there's tons of existing Han canon right in the wake of that. Some open possibilities for that would allow for him to be at a random place like this and have an interaction. It's definitely not impossible and it would be fun, but could be, but probably not, but could be.

And just because this isn't Han Solo doesn't mean this is the last time we're going to say, is Han Solo in this show? Right. And I will say, too, I think that they are welcoming, dare I say even courting, this discussion point. Because if you show, much like all of us in Mando season one, episode five, were like, are those spurs on the approaching foot, Boba Fett? And then they were when you see the camera coming.

lingering behind somebody's hip and side quad. And on that hip and side quad is a very, very distinct blaster. What are you going to think? You're going to think Han, Han shot first. Hey, I know Han. He loves that blaster. So it could be Han. But I just want you to say the phrase side quad for the rest of this podcast.

Oh, all right. You see that side quad at 123. But Joe, if you go and you'll you got to be like really like, you know, rapid fire with the spacebar freeze frame action here. Right. When we switch from 123 to 124, if you freeze it right there.

It appears, I think, I don't want to say clearly, but close to clearly in the next shot right after that, you see on a rooftop a character holding and firing a blaster. And if you freeze it just at the right second before it gets kind of blurry, that really looks like it's Obi-Wan. That's Obi-Wan. Yeah. So maybe those are different moments of different blasters, but maybe not. Number two on the mysterious backs of heads, sides of bodies. Yes. Side quads.

Is the Grand Inquisitor speaking to someone with a bald head, probably on Dayu. Says, where is he? As he spins his lightsaber. Be Tamora Morrison. Tamora Morrison as Commander Cody. Mal, what do you think? This is the one I'm most comfortable saying I don't think so, too. But with the eternal caveat, like, who knows? Cody kept working for the Empire.

After Order 66. I think any sort of Cody involvement in an Obi-Wan centric show would be satisfying given that Cody is the one who turned on him during the purge. I just don't know if it tracks that the Inquisitor would be grilling Cody. Like the character he's yelling at here seems to be someone who's protecting Obi-Wan. And that was not the role that Cody occupied. So I'm going to say no. And this is just another person with a shaved head.

Okay. Multiple shaved head people in this universe. Speaking of backs of heads and hair. Yes, boy. Let's talk about one I feel actually pretty good about. Yeah. 119 in the trailer, Reva does a slight attack to a curly headed dude who may or may not be the one whose boots are dangling in the air in another shot.

We know that Benny Safdie has been cast in the show. And Mallory knows that I love a hair watch. We have done a hair analysis. This is a passion of yours. Yeah. With Benny Safdie and the back and head of this character, we think this is Benny Safdie. And it looks like Tatooine. And if it is Tatooine, those red flags mean that you were right about the other two Inquisitors. Because it's another side of the same shot that those red flags are in that other shot. Just hanging out at a cafe. Yeah.

Yeah, she's having some tea. And there's like no fewer than three scary Inquisitors here. Quite literally sliding in. Can we talk about this slide? Oh, it looks incredible. Do you think that Reva was Benny Safdie's muse on this fight? No, I'm just kidding. Anyway, Benny Safdie's here. That's what I think.

Could be a rando, but Hairwatch tells me it's Benny. Yeah, I'm with you on this one. I'm with you on this one. Okay, last but not least, I'm going to throw this one to you because this is your stroke of genius.

We see a new droid heavily featured, not heavily featured, but featured enough in this trailer that I've got questions. Mal might have answers. Mallory Rubin, what's your droid theory? My theory is mainly just that because we lingered on this droid, like this droid got a close up at 108 and...

That makes me think that this droid is a character in this show. The droid is interacting with the stormtrooper. Oh, wow. That was like an... I mean, we were just talking about Reva sliding in. Bug sliding in to the zoom at a rapid pace. She did like a hurdle jump over a box. Like it was a whole... I don't know what's going on anyway. Incredible. Well...

So if this droid is in fact a character, then who from the cast list of confirmed participants in this show have we not seen in this trailer? Now, there are a few possibilities, but Kumail has to be high on the list of candidates here. Could be O'Shea Jackson Jr.? Could be, but thinking about Alan Tudyk, I think they like putting comedians into a droid role. I love this. I love this idea that Kumail Nanjiani is voicing a droid.

And this drawing in particular. Stroke of genius, Mallory Rubin. I love this theory. I'm sure a million people are saying this. This concludes backs of heads, sides of bodies. Oh, I don't know. Side quad will be a recurring segment for us moving forward, I think. Metal faces. Speaking of metal faces, Jo. Yeah. It's time to talk about... Wow, that was good. I've only spent my entire life practicing it.

The trailer ends with, at the 1 minute 33 second mark, kicking in the iconic, unmistakable, chill-inducing sounds of Darth Vader breathing. Is there a sound that could spark a reaction on par with this? There's not. Now, we know

This is getting us back to what we were chatting about a few minutes ago. We know that Hayden Christensen is reprising his role in this show. I have a few questions and then I want to get to the inevitable showdown. Does allowing us to hear him

but not see him yet, indicate anything to you in any direction. Does it indicate that we're going to get more of Vader than you were anticipating? That we're going to get less of Vader than you were anticipating? The only other thing that we got today, actually, we're recording this on Thursday, another EW release was centered specifically around a Vader photo. He apparently

So what the caption in the EW piece says is that he appears to be emerging from his meditation chamber. If that is the case, then he's on Fortress Vader. He's in Fortress Vader on Mustafar. And it definitely looks like the meditation chamber that we see in Fortress Vader in Rogue One. That same EW swath of coverage had Hayden Christensen saying, we're going to see a very powerful Vader.

It's just funny. I'm sorry. I just have to take a moment. The whole like first look at Vader and I'm like, yep, that's Vader. Looks like Vader to me. It should have been like first look at overanalyzing the surroundings around Vader. But anyway. One of my favorite things to do, overanalyze the surroundings around Vader or any other character. I think that, you know, I agree with what the Midnight Boy said when they were talking about the trailer. Yeah.

you don't cast Hayden Christensen, you don't bring him back if you're only going to have a couple moments with Vader in the suit, a la Rogue One, right? So we're going to see his face, presumably, his scarred visage. Probably, I think more importantly, we're going to see these crucial scenes between characters that just would not feel the same, that just would not feel right between Obi-Wan and Vader if they were not Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor. But I think one of the great things about Vader is

And particularly in this story, in Obi-Wan's story, is that he is present even when he is not in the scene because he just looms so powerfully over what we were talking about at the opening, that regret that Obi-Wan carries with him. Luke's future, the galaxy at large. There was another good quote from EW from Joby saying,

His shadow is cast across so much of what we do and the degree of his proximity to the shadow is something that we'll discover, but he is very much a part of the show emotionally for Obi-Wan and possibly beyond that as well. To underscore the Midnight Boys point, um,

In that long piece about Hayden, Ewan, etc., were some quotes from Kathleen Kennedy about why they did not consider bringing Hayden back for Rogue One. It's because they were just using Darth Vader for these stunt sequences. That's why they did a stunt team and James Earl Jones's voice, right? And so we're definitely seeing the mask come off. That's why you cast Hayden. I'm going to say...

gonna say we're probably gonna get some flashbacks. I mean, that might sound triggering off the flashback of Boba Fett, but if we get flashbacks to Clone Wars stuff, which would require some, you know, classic Lucasfilm de-aging tech on these people's faces, but if we get flashback to Clone Wars stuff and get some, like, Ahsoka in there as well, like, Mallory's gonna blow her top. You know what I mean? So...

Let me say this. It would be one of the best things that's ever happened to me in my entire life. Also, if it doesn't include flashbacks of Obi-Wan with the Duchess Satine, I would then be like apoplectic. So it's complex. But I love the flashback idea. There are some incredible Anakin flashbacks in Rebels during Ahsoka's meditation that are just like...

absolutely heart-wrenching. In the Ahsoka novel, there are some moments of reflection from Obi-Wan's perspective where he thinks back to Anakin. I think that would be really cool and really powerful. I hope that we get it. In terms of the

present day inside the timeline of the story showdown though, the duel. This is so to circle back to what we're talking about a few minutes ago. I don't, I don't think we have to speculate. I think that Disney has officially confirmed that we're getting this right. When concept art, there's concept art. Even before that, when Kathleen Kennedy teased the show and back in 2020 and Disney investor day, she called it the rematch of the century. And then more recently Disney plus day, um,

the most recent Disney Plus day, we got... You can go to Disney Plus now, type in Obi-Wan Kenobi, it'll pop up. It's like a one-minute, 13-ish second little sneak peek, and you can see the concept art that Joe just mentioned in there, which shows a fully suited Darth Vader in a lightsaber, locking lightsabers, with Obi-Wan Kenobi flames around them. And...

it's not just that the image flashed. We heard people talk about this in line with that image in that sneak peek. Deborah Chow said, quote, we couldn't tell the story of Obi-Wan Kenobi without addressing Anakin or Vader. And then Ewan McGregor, we see him wearing a mask. So this is like, there's no chance this is old archival footage. Like this is COVID era filming footage of him training for a saber fight. Okay. And again, we just said his saber is holstered. Like he's not using it. He's not hiding. When would he break it out? I don't know. Defense.

There's this incredible moment with Ewan, this huge grin on his face where he says, as we see the concept art flash, have another swing at each other might be quite satisfying for everybody. Like, I just feel like they've confirmed that we're getting this duel. That's right. Okay, fine. No need to be coy. There's going to be a duel. It's official Disney confirmation. I think if we're building to Vader and if this...

trailer is only episode one and episode two footage, though I got fooled by that before with Boba Fett, but let's just say it is. Then, like, maybe we don't show Vader because we're not seeing Vader until later in the season because we're building to Vader. Do you know what I mean? So, like, maybe that's a reason to just use the, like, you know? I think that's definitely possible. And I also think

As I said earlier, I think there's a chance that we could see him with the Inquisitors and then build toward the Obi-Wan moment so that that is still really contained and precious. But we get more Vader across the show. That feels like a thing they could do. You mentioned the new hope line. Obviously, that's something a lot of people are talking about.

If we do, in fact, get this duel, what will it mean for I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the master. I know that that's like a big thing for people to me. In the constellation of Star Wars retcons, that's a pretty minor one.

Fair. That's fair. That's fair. I'm not, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna like, I'm not gonna massively stress about it. There might be other retcons I would stress about, but like this one is like not a big deal, but it's just, it's worth noting. Absolutely. Last but not least is of course,

What we're not seeing. Yeah. What aren't they showing us, Joanna Robinson? Are we not seeing, right? Because if they're only showing us stuff from one and two or, you know, whatever, that means there's there are some big reveals that they want to hide from us. We're not here to talk about any spoilers, but there's plenty of room for like this is speculation city right here. We saw a little Luke. Why not a little Leia?

If we see a little Leia, why not a little Bail Organa? You know what I mean? What else? I love this. I think that the Leia possibility and speculation seem to be like a very popular theory on Twitter right in the wake of the trailer dropping. Also, just you think of the language inside of the trailer, like we don't hear this, but these are the words that are flashing on the screen between darkness and defeat. Hope survives. Well, what do we associate with Obi-Wan and Hope?

Leia. So, I mean, you know. Luke too, but sure. Okay. Yes, we saw him already. And this is what didn't we see. We saw side quads. We saw Luke. What didn't we see? I love the Bale possibility to mention.

I mentioned earlier that in Ahsoka's novel, the Inquisitors are in pursuit. And one of the really cool things in that novel is seeing how Bail and Ahsoka come together because he goes to her aid. He is actively monitoring Jedi who survived the Purge who might be in peril. And that is how Bail and Ahsoka come together, which eventually, and there are years in between, eventually leads Ahsoka, using the code name Fulcrum, down.

to the ghosts, to the specters in Rebels. So there's a lot of connective tissue here that I think would port like very seamlessly. Plus, of course, Bail and Obi-Wan have like existing history, right? And on the one hand, if you're trying to protect Luke, communicating in any way would be, I don't know, tough, but it doesn't seem like out of the bounds of reason that if Luke is potentially in peril, maybe Obi-Wan would like, you know, give Bail a call, check in. I don't know.

And again, following up on the Joel Edgerton comment, like if you can use Jimmy Smith's in your property, why would you not use Jimmy Smith's in your property? And that also leads to, you know, the last time we saw Jimmy Smith's show up in a Star War was Rogue One, right? And we've been talking about Rogue One a little bit. Like, are there going to be other Rogue One characters?

in this. Obviously, this takes place before Rogue One, but we could see some folks from Rogue One kicking around here if they wanted to. Here's the one that I'm most excited by that I brought to you guys in the Slack and you and I were like, yeah, duh, Joanna. But I got really excited about it. I know! Is that how we said it? It was like...

Yes, absolutely. Isn't this an amazing time to be talking about Star Wars together? Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn. No, there's been no... Force Ghost time, let's do it. There's been no... Can't you just see him... Let's go back to that blue cave shot. Isn't it even really possible that they just...

Apple V paste cut took Liam Neeson out of that shot. He might be in that shot. That's a classic thing they might do. But anyway, the idea of Force Ghost Qui-Gon Jinn hanging out with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine in his isolation makes me really fucking emotional. I feel like this is something that we need and dare I say deserve. Okay? Yeah.

You know, Yoda directing Obi-Wan at the end of the prequels to learn this power from Qui-Gon, his former master.

by the original trilogy. Of course, he has. We hear him say to Vader in a new open, if you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine. Returns as a force ghost. Of course, Yoda returns as a force ghost. He learns his power too. So we need to see him learn. We need to see him learn. Now, we have gotten glimpses of his training, but that doesn't make me think this is less likely. It makes me think it's more likely. I've mentioned the novel Ahsoka a lot today, but I actually feel compelled to read a passage here quickly.

This is from the E.K. Johnston canon novel, Ahsoka. Quote, there's this, I read this entire, I mean, read the whole book. It's great, but read this chapter. It's just gorgeous. The whole thing is from Obi-Wan's perspective and it is like so sad. Quote,

Alone and connected, aloof and hopelessly entwined, Obi-Wan had only a moment before he was wrenched back into the physical world, but it was long enough to renew his hope. Obi-Wan, said Qui-Gon Jinn. He was sure the voice was stronger this time. Let go. That novel predates when the show is set, which means he would be continuing his training after that, and we...

we've got to see some of it. We just have to, I'm going to read you one more line from that. That is not related to this particular plot point possibility that we're discussing, but it's just so heartbreaking and is right near this as I'm looking at my Kindle here.

He'd gone to Shmi Skywalker's grave to apologize for losing her son. Oh, heavy. Oh, my God. Heavy. Yeah, we need to we need to see this. We need to maybe maybe we get it right away before he leaves. We might we might. Can I just say that? Like so in in the sequence of The Rise of Skywalker, not my favorite Star Wars movie. When Rey is like weird, if that were your favorite Star Wars movie, what a twist that would be. Well,

When Rey is like being guided by the voice of all the Jedi, right? And we hear, you know, both people voice animated Jedi and live action, blah, blah. And we hear Ewan McGregor and we hear Frank Oz and we hear Mark Hamill and all that's very well and good. But when I lost it,

And I love that Hayden is part of that too, but I lost it when I heard Qui-Gon Jinn in that sequence. Like Liam Neeson, again, however you feel about the prequels, Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon is something that a lot of people just have a lot of affection for. I love that sequence.

I love that character. I love that portrayal. I'm, I will get very emotional if we see a force ghost. How did you feel about animated Qui-Gon when, when Obi-Wan has the vision and more deaths in Clone Wars? Um, I love it. I do. It's just not quite the same as, as, as it was here. Oh, all right. So you mentioned, uh, Maul, uh,

Yes. That's very possible. Crimson Dawn, et cetera, et cetera. You mentioned a potential Satine flashback. So on the mall front. Yeah. I this is one of the really rare ones where like there's a part of me, of course, that is like, yes, I hope so. I want it. I need it. And then there's a part of me that's like, I don't know. I feel like I feel like the Obi-Wan Ball canon.

that spans decades of the Star Wars timeline is like close to perfect. And it doesn't mean they can't add to that perfection, but you can have them all be here without him interacting with Obi-Wan. It's true. And, and, you know, to that point, Joe, like the, it's probably worth mentioning though, the timeline is, is, is not aligned in this respect with where this show is set.

Even though Maul is a dark side user, the Inquisitors hunted him because he was a threat to Palpatine. Like that's, that takes place in Rebels is that the, he's, the Inquisitors are opposed to him. He dies on 2 BBY on Tatooine. Perfect episode of TV, Twin Suns, season three, episode 20.

I don't... Because there was some speculation, like, could we get the live-action version of that? I personally would be shocked if this show spanned seven years of time and six episodes. That would feel way too rushed. I hope that this is contained to, like, a couple weeks or months. But there's a lot... There is a lot of unaccounted-for mall time. I will say that. Because...

Solo ends in 10. You know, we get the Maul moment in Solo, which is 10 BBY. We know this is Crimson Dawn era Maul. And then like when he's on Malachor and Rebels, he's been there for a while stranded. So there's a ton we haven't seen from Maul. It could happen. Maybe I do want it. I'm in real time pivoting. Give it to me. Give it to me. What do you think of Chrysanthemum? Sure.

I got comics history that that scar above the eye 10 BBY. It's only one year off. Why not? And then, you know, who else is part of that? Boba. Actually, no, sorry. I just don't. I don't. I feel like we might get Chris Anton. Yeah. I don't know if we will get Boba, but I think Chris Anton was probably introduced in Boba to bring him in here. Maybe not, though. I don't know. So could we see? I think I like your idea of seeing her in flashbacks. And then, yeah, I'll just I'll say it as many times as I can. We got to get.

Satine. We just have to. We need it. We need it. I need it. We're running low on time, but next time we talk about this, I'm going to have you dreamcast Satine outside of Nicole Kidman. Do we want to do a mailbag? Let's do it! Help us, Jomi Adeneron. You're our only hope. Jomi won Kenobi. These are great mailbag questions. You fought with my father in the Clone Wars. You know, I finished the Clone Wars.

on Sunday show. How'd that feel? I set Mal, uh, one minute and change voice memo. I couldn't type it. I couldn't type it. It was beautiful. I saved it. Cause it was honestly really touching. Not going to hold you. Your boy, your boy was in tears. Yeah. It was really sweet. It was, uh, yeah. With this show coming out, I was like, let me just get through the clone wars. You know what I mean? Let me do it. And, uh, I powered through the first couple of seasons, uh,

And it's just magical television. By the end of it, I was left in pieces. If you haven't tapped in, tap in. Love it. Our first question comes from Anthony. And Anthony asks, given what we know about Obi's timeline from Episode 3, Clone Wars, Rebels to Episode 4, and the season one run, or the, and the one season run,

Where do you predict will be dropped off by the end of the series, given the balance needed between filling in so much untold story in one season, considering the pacing issues of the other Star Wars Disney Plus shows? Yeah, so we should say that as opposed to Mando, this is being...

build as a limited series. Like that they're just going to do the six episodes and be done. I gotta think that if this is enormously successful...

you know, similar to why we got Big Little Lies season two, et cetera, et cetera. When all those things were supposed to be a limited series. I think we would get more Obi-Wan Kenobi if, if, if the, the thirst is there and Mal, Mal is going to try to be responsible for 90% of the thirst, but we're going to need everyone else to fill in the other 10%. You know what I mean? So I think they're going to leave themselves plenty of space.

to do more if they want to. One of the most amusing parts of the EW story was Deborah Chow explaining quite clearly that this was always conceptualized and intended as a full contained story, truly a limited series. And then it's like Kathleen Kennedy comes in and is like, we'll see. Yeah.

But to be fair, Kathleen Kennedy did say if we did continue it, we'd have to have a real like a real why. Why are we doing this? Like more of the story to tell. So who knows how much shows, how much. Why is the money on the Disney Plus subscribers? You understand. You understand. Joanne is here. But I think for that reason, like the fact that no matter what they say, we'll want to keep the prospect of a future.

return alive. I think that's part of why this is likely to be contained to a very small chunk of the timeline because you don't want to cover too many years here. You don't want to answer every question. You want to be able to ask more in the future. Also from a Hollywood deal-making space, I firmly believe that Ewan McGregor's like, sure, I'll do your six episodes. And if you want me back, it will cost you. Our next question comes from Kussel Run. Great name. Great app name.

Who do you think Obi-Wan's lines at the beginning of the trailer are directed to? My first thought was Qui-Gon, but I don't know if that would make sense. He could also be talking to himself, but Kessel Run's real hope is that it's Bail Organa. What do you guys think? It sounds like he's talking to someone who's trying to draw him back into something, right? Like, we lost...

And that could be a Qui-Gon who's like, gotta keep fighting, you know, whatever. But, um, or it could be a Bail Organa. I don't know. There's a lot of, there's a lot of,

options here but whatever it is it's him explaining to someone his reluctance to I don't know leave his cave and take a shower do you think do you think Ben's showering same question well you know like a dune style little sand scrub maybe you know I think that there's a chance too that that line is spliced together like it sounds like the fight is done we lost is definitely one line to whomever he is speaking to but I don't know it felt like stay hidden was separate maybe stay hidden

I kind of love the idea of this being Qui-Gon. I think this would be great. But I agree with you, Joe. It's like clearly he's speaking to somebody who's trying to coax him into action. And, you know, I haven't said it, put quite this final point on it, but it is worth noting that just across the existing canon, like while Obi-Wan is staying hidden, while he is prioritizing Luke above all, he still does like

constantly agonize over wanting to help other people. Like, it's not like he's actually content to just recede into the sandy shadows and not think about what is happening around him. That's actually not the case. I think this is like a constant struggle for him. Obi, my dear Obi. This is tough. Love him. I'm with you, man. We need the Duchess. I know. I'm not going to cry on this podcast. Next question. Oh, God.

comes from daniel daniel wants to know assuming obi takes the top spot which characters do you think will get the second and third most screen time would it be great if obi-wan didn't have the top screen time in his own show it wouldn't not on the heels of boba it's just one episode of luke pretending to drive you know a speeder in you know most honestly that's just the whole show for five episodes you imagine

I can only do this based on characters that we've seen in the trailer, right? That's all I'm going to do, right? So I will say... Or Hurd. And or Hurd, right? So I will say Obi-Wan Kenobi, number one. Number two, Reva. Number three, I would say Vader. And or the Grand Inquisitor. That's my same order. Because I think...

I think that the Grand Inquisitor has a chance to be number two, but ultimately I think that he's an existing primary antagonist in a show we've already seen. And I feel like he'll be there. He'll be a part of it. But Reva, I think, has the chance to be like the main foe other than, of course, Vader. But in terms of like most screen time. So I'm going to I'm with you. I'll put her second for now. But who

But who knows? I have no idea. That's part of what's exciting about this. There's a lot we don't know. A lot we haven't seen. We don't know. I'm excited to see the Inquisitors. I think they'll get like TVA screen time. In a sense, like we'll get a look into what the Inquisitors are all about. You know, like they're maybe not their day-to-day operations, but they're, you know, larger scale. A drawer full of Infinity Stones kind of. That would be so cool.

That would be fun. Yeah, but look into what the Inquisitors are doing. I'm sure they assume a lot of people haven't watched Rebels. So they'll have to do a little background for them. Maybe. But sometimes Chad Bane just strolls out of the desert and they're like, catch up! Listen, Filoni's not really about that smoke. Filoni here, like, listen. Y'all better get up. Get going. Next question comes from Jeff Beer. Jeff Cerveza.

On a scale of 1986 Barry Bonds to 2007 Barry Bonds, how do you rank the Grand Inquisitor's head growth between Rebels and here? Iconic question. Unbelievable sports reference right there. So good. So good. Oh, my God. As I said on Twitter when Jeff tweeted this, this is a sports reference even I get as a Bay Area fan.

Native and a close follower of a steroid scandal. 2001? Is that where we went, though? It's amazing. It's an amazing question. I love this. You know, we talked about the response to his...

to his face already in the forehead already. But you know, yeah, the, the, the, as a power and he should have that like long slender head, you know, we've seen, I think that's one of the reasons people were like, wait, what is because we actually have seen pounds in live action. You know, we saw them on, on Udapow and Sith. So I don't know. I'm, I'm still with, with what you said earlier, Joe, I agree. I think that the performance will wow us and we will, we will grow to stop caring.

About the size of the forehead. Of the melon. The good old noggin. Side quads and stretched or squat foreheads. What a pod. My God. Head circumference. Head circumference watch. Got to do it for the people. For the people. Next question comes from Sean.

How would you feel if we got two Vader episodes in the middle of the season that even include a line of dialogue from old Ben? It's a no for me. Um,

But they could give me a two-part flashback and I wouldn't be mad. But no stretch of time with Ewan off the screen, please. We were promised six episodes. I demand six episodes. I genuinely have no idea if this question from Sean is a sincere question or just a tough stuff for our...

recent show Boba Fett which is what I assume but yeah I agree I mean like all jokes aside we only have six episodes and this is so hotly anticipated much more so than Boba was like Obi-Wan is just a central character at a different caliber different stature we've gotta we've gotta be with him we can't we can't I don't think we can leave his side for long if at all

You guys don't want to find out where Stinky from the Clone Wars movie went? Oh, I think about Stinky often, actually. When the twins came in in Boba, I was like, where the fuck is Stinky? That's his throne. So yes, I do want to know where Stinky is. Thanks for asking. Don't curse this.

We got another question from Richard. Richard Yoon wants to know, will it make you smile with glee or will you be angry if we get a pre-teen Luke Skywalker to yell, yippee? I want him to ask Reva, are you an angel? Are you an angel? Wow. That's the Anakin callback I want.

I'm not being serious, just to state that for the record. That's not what I want. I think it was on TikTok. They wanted Obi-Wan to see Luke and Uncle Owen in the shopping center. And for him to look at little Luke and just say, hello there. And I was like, ah!

My chest. That's that's fan service to a T. We will hear hello there. Like at the mall, at the shopping mall. Yeah. No, the marketplace. Yeah. The farmer's market. You know what I'm saying? You get that fresh produce, that fresh bath and milk. The moisture farmer's market. Yeah. Yeah. I get that blue milk. You see it. You see it.

Yeah, that would be like the peak of fan service, but that would be a fun thing to see if we're giving people lines. That would be nice. There was only one way to end this pod, and here it is. Only one way. We got to clear out from now. It's time.

It's time. This is a dual act, a tandem act here, a shared passion. A force dyad. A binary sunset. Oh, my God. Tag team, Mal and Joe. We got to get this man. Shout out to Kaylee Giordano for this question. I love how she starts us off. Apologies in advance. No, I don't have to apologize for this. Kaylee, don't apologize.

for asking great questions and helping us create great content. We thank you and we appreciate you. Fuck, marry, kill. Obi-Wan in Revenge of the Sith, animated Obi-Wan in Clone Wars, or Obi-Wan in this trailer? The floor is yours. To be clear, I guess Padawan Obi-Wan is off the table.

Oh, boy. Here we go. An attack of the clones Obi-Wan's off the table. It's just revenge. Yeah. It's just beardy time. All right. Mal, you want to go first or do you want me to go? Up to you. I'm prepared with my answer. Okay, I'll go first. I feel like you shouting your beard less should be the conclusion of this episode. Okay.

With love and respect, and Mallory's probably going to disagree, but I am killing the animated Obi-Wan and his geometric beard. He is wonderful and I love him, but he's an animated figure, so I'm killing him. Um...

I am shameful. I am boating down. We'll run to the Sith. Uh, Obi-Wan, but I'm going to marry our desert grizzled. Oh my God. Obi-Wan. This trailer is marriage material. As far as I'm concerned, pull me up a sleeping bag in the cave. I will hang out. That's my amazing. Okay. Um, boy, my answer, uh,

is, you know, take me instead. Let them all live and thrive and frolic with Joanna in her dream scenario there. But if that's not a answer I'm allowed to give, here's what I'll say instead. Fuck trailer Obi-Wan. Absolutely. You saw him, right? Okay. Marry animated Clone Wars Obi-Wan. I'll explain this in a second. Okay.

Kill Sith Obi-Wan. Okay. Sad to kill Sith Obi-Wan, of course, but someone has to go. And this way, I am keeping two of my greatest loves, animated Obi-Wan from The Clone Wars and Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan from live action. And if I had to choose between those live action ones, I've chosen the one that I prefer, which is the trailer one. So, so, so...

The animated Obi-Wan is just such a joy, such a favorite of mine, but also on the road a lot. This is why I'm choosing him for marriage. This is a practical one, right? We could have some me time. Okay. Got to think about this inside of a marriage. He's always out there fighting the Clone Wars. I don't want to, as smitten as I am by trailer Obi-Wan, I don't want to marry trailer Obi-Wan and live in a cave forever.

Fucking in the cave, though, seems great. Let's just ask John and Egret. Joe? No? Oh, I know. Case by fire, baby. What a special question. Thank you to not only Kaylee, but the literally dozens of other people who asked a version of that question. Yeah, someone also phrased it as Kenobi Obi, and just that phrase made me laugh really hard. You know, this Obi-Wan, Kenobi Obi. Kenobi Obi was just great stuff. Jomi Wan, do you have an answer to this question?

Oh, yeah. I am. I'm killing Kenobi Obi from the trailer. My man's he's not really in it. His spirit his spirit. You know what I'm saying? We lost my man. That's the hermit Obi-Wan Kenobi. That's a sad man. That's a sad man. I can't. Yeah. A sad weathered middle-aged man. Literally my favorite thing. A sad weathered bearded

middle-aged man. Oh my God. He ain't got it. He ain't got it. He ain't got it. That's our Jorah Mormont love shining through. That is the sweet spot. Yeah. He ain't got the energy. He ain't got the, yeah, he ain't, he not with it no more. Yeah. He out the game. Nah, can't do it. I am betting my man from Revenge of the Sith. That's a guy.

Yeah, it's love. That's so sweet. Joanna, yeah, it's love. I love it. You know what I'm saying? You're also marrying animated. Oh, gotta marry animated. That's, oh, come on. You guys are gonna have your faces sliced open on his geometric, geodesic beard. Well, it's when the hair softens a little bit over time and it looks really lovely, but we know that he...

was thinking seriously about the nature of commitment. You know, what did he say to Satine? Like, if you, I would have left the Jedi Order, if you'd asked. If you had asked, I would have left the Jedi Order. And I assume he's going to feel the same way about us when we propose marriage to him. I have not, I've been alive my 25 years. I have not seen love in someone's eyes the way I saw the love in Satine's eyes.

and Obi-Wan's eyes when they look into each other. It's beautiful. It really is. Imagine Obi-Wan looking at me like that. How can I say no, Joanna? How can I pass that up? I just can't do it. That's the bottom line. I'm built different. I love this for you. Thank you. Many happy returns. It's the house of our way there. Incredible. Before we go today, Joanna, tell everybody about your new pod. Oh, hi. I've got a new pod.

With my pals from the storm storm spoilers, old podcast, Dave Gonzalez, Neil Miller, and I are doing a new podcast called trial by content, uh, which will be premiering next week. Uh, every week we're going to be arguing in a friendly way, question mark about, uh, some various pop culture topics. You guys get to weigh in and vote and see who you think did the best job at the debate. Uh,

This week we're debating Batman villains because we're just not done with Batman content on the Ringer Podcast Network. So Batman villains will be debated over on Trial by Content.

Found where all good podcasts are found. Incredible. Incredible. Cannot wait. Getting the gang back together. That journey is just resuming, but today's podcast has concluded. Thank you to our Grand Inquisitor, Senior Producer Steve Allman.

for producing this episode. Our Jedi master, Arjuna Ramgopal, for his additional production work on this episode. And our grand composer, Jomia Deneron, for his work on the social for this episode. We will be back on Monday to chat about Turning Red and reveal our Pixar Hall of Fame. Until then, the fight is done. ♪

This episode is brought to you by State Farm. You might say all kinds of stuff when things go wrong, but these are the words you really need to remember. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. They've got options to fit your unique insurance needs, meaning you can talk to your agent to choose the coverage you need, have coverage options to protect the things you value most, file a claim right on the State Farm mobile app, and even reach a real person when you need to talk to someone. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.