A shocking Star Wars revelation has surfaced that will change the way you watch Obi-Wan Kenobi’s introduction to the franchise.
Obi-Wan Kenobi was played by Sir Alec Guinness in the original trilogy, which started with Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) and ended in 1983 with Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.
By the time George Lucas’s prequel trilogy rolled around in 1999, Ewan McGregor had been cast as a young version of the Jedi master, a role he played across three films up until 2005 and, in 2022, his very own Disney+ series.
However, a detail has come to light about Kenobi’s appearance in the underrated Episode I – The Phantom Menace that has suddenly provided clarity around a line he utters in A New Hope.
This detail comes courtesy of Star Wars concept and storyboard artist Iain McCaig, as highlighted by Variety, who revealed that, in The Phantom Menace, Obi-Wan was actually... wait for it... going to be Qui-Gon Jinn, the character played by Liam Neeson.
Qui-Gon Jinn dies in The Phantom Menace, meaning the real Obi-Wan Kenobi was originally intended to be killed off by Darth Maul in the film.
This would have made McGregor’s character a younger Jedi who adopts the name of his mentor, meaning that, if Lucas had proceeded with the twist, Guinness’s Obi-Wan would not have been the original Obi-Wan, either.
McCaig explained: “For a time, the older Jedi was named Obi-Wan and the younger Jedi was named Qui-Gon. It was very poignant that at the end, as Obi-Wan dies and Qui-Gon defeats Darth Maul and stays with his Master as he passes away, he not only takes on his Master’s quest, but he takes on his name. Qui-Gon becomes Obi-Wan.”
This then shines a light on a line of dialogue spoken by Guinness’s Obi-Wan in A New Hope.
McCaig continued: “That’s why when you see Alec Guinness in A New Hope, he puts his hood down and goes, ‘Obi-Wan? Now that’s a name I’ve not heard.’ Because he’s not Obi-Wan, he’s Qui-Gon. And right at the end, George changed it.”
In A New Hope, when Obi-Wan says: “That’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time,” it was always assumed this was due to the fact he was commonly referred to by his non-Jedi name, Ben Kenobi. This revelation certainly changes the scene, knowing what Lucas was originally intending.
