Obi-Wan Kenobi Trailer Breakdown: Ewan McGregor Finally Returns To Star Wars

The time has finally come, "Star Wars" fans. Ewan McGregor is finally set to return in a galaxy far, far away in a brand new series on Disney+ later this year, aptly titled "Obi-Wan Kenobi." This will give one of the most cherished characters in the history of the franchise a chance to take the spotlight, in addition to revisiting one of the brightest of bright spots in the prequel trilogy. During Disney's recent investor call, they decided to finally drop the first trailer for the show on us ahead of its debut this May.

As one might expect, even a mere teaser trailer that is clearly holding back an awful lot offers much to discuss. We get first looks at new villains, new planets, young heroes, returning favorites, and so much more. So, we're going to do a beat-by-beat breakdown of the trailer to see what we can glean from it. Let's dig in, shall we?

The trailer opens with our titular character riding through the deserts of Tatooine on an eopie (because he hates flying, you may recall). It has been 10 years since Order 66 and the defeat of the Jedi at the end of "Revenge of the Sith" and Obi-Wan seems quite despondent, roaming the desert alone.

Even as he traverses through town, he looks truly and utterly alone. Defeated. The voiceover in the early bits of the trailer with McGregor saying "The fight is done; we lost" strongly points to his mindset during this time period. This is not the Jedi master we used to know and love. This is a broken man.

Here, we get a shot of Obi-Wan just going about his work (though it's unclear what he's working on) in town, just mixing into the crowd. He's not a famed Jedi, and he's not someone to be feared. He's just blending in, minding his own business.

Now we get arguably the most intriguing shot of the whole trailer, which sees Obi-Wan spying on the Lars moisture farm from a distance, where we see none other than a young Luke Skywalker, who would be around 10 years old, seemingly playing at podracing, just like his dad did all those years ago on the very same planet.

The look on Obi-Wan's face here says a lot, and this is indeed a big moment. But the context is very much needed and, as should not be surprising, this trailer is very light on context. We're left to hopelessly speculate for the most part.

A large section of the "Star Wars" fanbase is about to be introduced to a new villain in the form of the Inquisitors. These foes had a big part to play in the animated "Star Wars Rebels," as well as the "Darth Vader" comic and the "Jedi Fallen Order" video game, but have yet to appear in live-action. That all changes now, as we see one of their ships arriving at an ominous-looking base. Said base, it's worth noting, is surrounded by water and almost certainly is not located anywhere near Tatooine. Additionally, "Duel of the Fates" kicks in here, a nod to "The Phantom Menace" and one of the greatest bits of "Star Wars" music ever composed, which is a nice touch. 

This show boasts a stacked cast, including Rupert Friend ("The Death of Stalin"), who is seen here as one of the Inquisitors that is hunting down the few remaining Jedi throughout the galaxy. That is their one and only mission, and they work closely with Darth Vader. Friend's stone-faced villain looks particularly menacing, both here and later in the trailer.

Here, we see what can only be referred to as a sand train of sort operating on Tatooine. It's a giant ramshackle speeder that is meant for mass transport. 

Obi-Wan is among those on board the ship at this time. Where is he headed? What are they up to? Again, speculate if you must as that's all we can do right now. But this is something new to the franchise from a pedestrian-vehicle perspective.

Here, we get a shot of the show's Inquisitors meeting at the unidentified base — that's Moses Ingram's Reeva standing up at the table. She is positioned as one of the most important Inquisitors in the show, getting the most screen time here.

This next shot is pretty surprising as we see someone literally being hung in the streets. That's not to say "Star Wars" isn't violent, but this is a pretty grim bit of direct violence that isn't often shown in the franchise. It's typically a lot of people dying in explosions or at the hands of a weapon that doesn't leave a lot of blood. This is a pretty blatant, cruel thing to see ... but Tatooine can be a blatant, cruel place. 

Yet another shot of Reva here, and this appears to be taking place at the same time of the hanging on Tatooine. Have the Inquisitors discovered where Obi-Wan is hiding? Is she playing a bit of crowd control while making an example out of some poor soul? That look on her face is serious, and she appears to serious business. 

A returning character! Joel Edgerton is indeed reprising his role as a younger Uncle Owen, just as he did in the prequels. We don't get a ton of him in the trailer, but he appears to be on the wrong end of this Inquisitor business in the streets. We know he makes it out of the show alive, but that doesn't mean he escapes completely unscathed. 

How about that? A new location! This appears to be the planet Daiyu, which will be a new planet in the show. This won't be like "The Book of Boba Fett" where we're stuck on Tatooine the whole time. The neon-soaked planet is described as being like Hong Kong, but in space, of course. Reva is seen overlooking the streets trying to find something ... or someone. 

Here, we see a sizable ship landing smack dab in the middle of what looks to be a town on Tatooine. Perhaps Mos Eisley? It's tough to say for sure, but the ship does not look friendly and it does not appear to be concerned with the disruption to anyone's day. 

Now we shift to a shot of another one of our new characters, an Imperial officer played by Indira Varma, of "Game of Thrones" fame. She looks to be all business in this one-and-only shot, but she will presumably play a bigger part in the story based on the actor's pedigree.

We return to Daiyu for this portion of the trailer, and it appears that the Empire is pretty interested in what's going on here. We know that Obi-Wan will make his way to the planet at some point, which leads us to believe the Inquisitors will be hot on his tail. 

And that also means that Darth Vader can't be too far behind, with Hayden Christensen returning to play the part in the show after appearing as Anakin Skywalker in both "Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith." 

Though the shot is brief, we get a glimpse of a new droid entering the fold, one that is talking in pretty close-quarters with a Stormtrooper. Is this merely a cool shot for the purposes of the trailer? Or is this droid going to be an important player in the show? Place your bets, please. 

Yet another sequence focused on Reva comes up at this point, with the Inquisitor springing into action above Daiyu, hopping across rooftops, seemingly in pursuit of someone. The details are left frustratingly vague but we do get to see her in action here. 

Now for one of the money shots in the trailer, which sees Friend's Inquisitor flexing some muscle by twirling his very menacing double-bladed, spinning lightsaber in someone's face while asking, "Where is he?" The implication is that he is asking about Obi-Wan, but it's impossible to be sure. Either way, it's a damn cool shot. 

Yet another Inquisitor enters the fold, this time followed by a garrison of Stormtroopers. It is tough to tell who is under all that make-up and in that suit, but Sung Kang ("F9") is playing an Inquisitor as well, and this could be him.

Would you look at that, it's more of Reva! This time, she is putting her lightsaber to use and threatening a resident of Tatooine. What did this person do to piss her off so fiercely? It's tough to say, but she sure skated in there like a badass. Obi-Wan is going to have his hands full. 

I imagine someone nerdier than myself about "Star Wars" (though I do pride myself on being quite nerdy about it) is going to decipher the meaning of this, but what I can tell you is that we have a mysterious, black-gloved hand grazing over an equally mysterious symbol on a wall here. What does it mean? Who does this hand belong to? If I'm to recklessly speculate, is that Vader's hand? It's intriguing, I know that much. 

As the trailer nears its conclusion, we once again see Reva, this time facing off against someone in the darkness in a back alley. Who is this person? It's though to say based on this angle, but a fight is a-brewin'. 

To that end, the very next shot is a bunch of blaster fire raining out on the rooftops. The series will seemingly not be light on action, that much is clear. And we haven't even seen Vader yet! We merely only hear his breathing as the title card comes up at the end.

Interestingly, one of the final shots of the trailer is of these green space birds, seen emerging from a smoky vent that also appears to be on Daiyu. Why are these birds so important? What else is going to emerge from that smoke? Was this just a cool shot to stick in there? Or is there more to it? Rarely has a shot of green birds raised so many questions. 

Last, but certainly not least, we get this solo shot of McGregor's Obi-Wan to end the trailer. It's hard to guess what he's looking at or what prompts this look on his face, but it makes every bit of sense to end the trailer on a shot of the man at the center of it all, especially considering that he's oddly not in the trailer all that much when taking into account that the show is literally just his name. One can only imagine what Disney and Lucasfilm aren't showing us if they packed this much into a teaser trailer. 

"Obi-Wan Kenobi" debuts on Disney+ on May 25, 2022.