Now that it’s April, Star Wars fans can say with certainty (and excitement) that the next Disney+ series is set to release next month. The highly anticipated Obi-Wan Kenobi is scheduled to debut on May 27, a slight change announced this week from its original May 25 slot, with subsequent episodes airing on Wednesdays after that date. This has been one of the most talked about and discussed Star Wars projects for years now, even long before it was officially announced, as an Obi-Wan movie was rumored long before it was announced as a show.
The first trailer for the title, which premiered last month, showed an array of characters that are set to appear. Obi-Wan himself was shown, a given of course, as were villains like Reva and the Grand Inquisitor, an antagonist previously seen in animation in Star Wars Rebels but now making his debut in live action. Besides Kenobi, one familiar face to fans was that of Owen Lars, played by Joel Edgerton as he reprises the role he took on in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Lars is an integral figure to Luke Skywalker’s journey and Anakin’s to a certain extent, and is more important to the Star Wars galaxy than some fans might recognize. Here are some of the highlights of the history of Owen Lars.
The very first Star Wars film, A New Hope, showed Owen Lars as a very dedicated moisture farmer, much more so than Luke was to the family business. In the franchise’s canon, this mentality was always the case for Owen, who was said to have been intent on improving his homestead from a very early age, right from when he lived with his father, Cliegg. The younger Lars’ familial connection to the Skywalkers comes from Cliegg, as he married Anakin’s mother, Shmi. Owen and Shmi didn’t share scenes with each other in Attack of the Clones, but canon states that the two had a loving relationship, solidifying the familial bond that Owen felt to young Luke when Obi-Wan delivered the child to him on Tatooine. Shmi became a parental figure of sorts to Owen after the death of his biological mother, meaning that he and Anakin were true brothers in a way despite not being blood related.
In canon, Owen’s father, Cliegg, tragically passed away from a broken heart after the death of Shmi Skywalker. At this time, Owen and his now-wife, Beru, sought to become parents themselves but were unable to conceive, setting up their desire to be parents and furthering why they were the right people to raise Luke and keep him safe from the clutches of the Empire. Obi-Wan entrusted them with this responsibility, but Owen was far from trusting of the Jedi. At one point, he theorized and eventually came to believe that his stepbrother Anakin was killed by Obi-Wan, when in actuality Skywalker became Darth Vader and ruled the galaxy next to Emperor Palpatine.
The animosity between Obi-Wan and Owen Lars was said to have grown even more as they began to raise Luke, becoming protective of him and believing Kenobi to be a danger to his safety. Obi-Wan attempted to initiate conversations with Owen about Luke and his potential to one day become a Jedi, but these were quickly thwarted by Lars as he claimed that Kenobi had no right to bring the child into that world after having already ‘killed’ Anakin, as he still believed was the case at this point in canon. It’s expected that this tense relationship will continue in Obi-Wan Kenobi, with fans speculating that Ewan McGregor and Joel Edgerton might get into some heated exchanges over the young Luke.
In canon, Obi-Wan did show his use to Owen at certain points, as Luke disappeared and was kidnaped amidst a planet-wide drought that plagued farmers like the Lars’. Bounty hunters and other villinaous figures swarmed the planet, meaning Luke was in the crossfire of this wider conflict. Sensing he was in danger, Obi-Wan rescued Luke and brought him home, but this didn’t stop Owen from believing that his nephew was better off without the lingering presence of his father‘s former master.
This distrust is seen in A New Hope, where an older Owen Lars is significantly more pessimistic than Beru as he doesn’t want to let Luke go out into the wider galaxy, fearing for his safety. He also refers to Obi-Wan, or Ben, as a “crazy old wizard”, urging Luke not to trust him. This was all before Owen and Beru were killed by the Empire, the event that triggered Luke to go off and help Obi-Wan and the Rebellion. Much of Owen Lars’ character in canon is centered around his disagreements with Obi-Wan, particularly in his latter years, and this looks set to continue as Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi is on the horizon.