It’s hard to believe Star Wars fans are already halfway through Obi-Wan Kenobi. There have been so many highlights to the series thus far, but arguably the strongest part has been the incredible action sequences. In just its first three episodes there have been a wide variety of fights that have had us anxiously glued to the screen. Now fans have a new small behind-the-scenes glimpse of star Ewan McGregor shaking off the rust and training his way back to his Jedi Master status.
The short 13-second video was filmed by Obi-Wan stunt performer Cha-Lee Yoon and posted by the All Things Kenobi Twitter account, cutting together two different training sequences. The first part of the video shows McGregor working on his aikido skills which is a Japanese form of martial arts. That kind of combat style is unusual for a Jedi. However, with the story focusing on a weathered Obi-Wan who is hiding and trying to survive being hunted by Darth Vader, it’s best that the former Jedi Knight isn’t just solely relying on his force abilities. Fans saw a taste of Obi-Wan's hand-to-hand combat skills in episode 2 when he was trying to get young Leia Organa off the dangerous planet of Daiyu.
The rest of the video sees McGregor humorously force pushing his fellow co-workers to the ground with the caption on the clip reading, “That’s what happens when you get touched by a Jedi.” While it’s hard to believe that we’ll be seeing Obi-Wan clothes-lining fools like he was some kind of professional wrestler, never count out this Jedi Master. He may have lost the war and his battle with Darth Vader, but there will definitely be a round two for these fallen friends in the near future.
Obi-Wan Kenobi has been a much more emotionally weighty and dark series than probably most Star Wars fans were expecting. This has a lot to do with the raw intensity of the fights, particularly the showdown between Vader and his former Master. Episode 3 left old Ben Kenobi in a dyer state. He was absolutely destroyed by Vader who gruesomely gave Obi-Wan a taste of his own fiery medicine. It was bad enough that Vader was using one hand to fight off a tired Obi-Wan, not even breaking a sweat under that iconic helmet, but watching Vader drag Obi-Wan through fire like he was a helpless rag doll was quite traumatizing. That most likely scarred more than a few lifelong Star Wars fans.
In its first three episodes, Obi-Wan has been this tragically deep character study beautifully exploring fallen heroes, and it has taken more than a few emotional risks. Those risks can be felt in the series' tense action. While we wait for episode 4 to drop this Wednesday, you can view the new training-centric behind-the-scenes video down below. You can also binge the first three episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ now.