Warning! Spoilers ahead for Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Set midway between the prequel and original trilogies, Obi-Wan Kenobi contains plenty of references to both of them. From bringing back Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker to drawing parallels between Leia Organa and her late mother Padmé Amidala, the show has a lot of reverence for the cult-classic prequels.
But director Deborah Chow has also included a ton of nods to the original Star Wars movies, from a bowcaster to a thermal detonator to Darth Vader’s flagship Star Destroyer to the half-baked alias “Ben Kenobi.”
10 Ben Kenobi
When a fellow Jedi hiding out on Tatooine asks Obi-Wan for help, he tells him that he’s got the wrong person: “My name is Ben.” The name “Ben Kenobi” is a nod to Obi-Wan’s lazy post-exile alias from the original trilogy.
It’s no wonder that the Empire found him so easy to track down. When he came up with his new name, he didn’t even bother to change his surname. How many Kenobis does he think there are in a galaxy far, far away?
9 Uncle Owen Doesn’t Like Obi-Wan
In the original Star Wars movie, when Luke tells Uncle Owen he wants to go out into the desert and meet up with Kenobi, Owen says, “That wizard’s just a crazy old man.”
In the first couple of episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Chow explored the reason for Owen’s dislike of Obi-Wan. He wants Obi-Wan to stay away from Luke because he blames his failure as a master for Anakin’s tragic downfall and doesn’t want Luke to meet the same fate.
8 Alderaan
Leia’s home planet of Alderaan was first seen in the original Star Wars movie. But it was only seen from a distance when Darth Vader used the Death Star to blast it into oblivion.
In the first episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Chow took audiences down onto the ground, where a young Leia enjoys pranking her parents, insulting her cousins, and hanging out with her droid LOLA in the woods.
7 Thermal Detonator
The fifth episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi brought the heartbreaking death of Tala, one of Obi-Wan and Leia’s closest allies. Surrounded by Stormtroopers, Tala sacrificed herself by setting off a thermal detonator.
This thermal detonator is the same kind of grenade brandished by Leia Organa when she infiltrated Jabba the Hutt’s palace to save Han in the opening act of Return of the Jedi.
6 Bowcaster
When the enemy arrived at the gate in the fifth episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Jedi sympathizers prepared to fend them off, Roken armed himself with a bowcaster, also known as a “laser crossbow.”
This is the signature weapon of Han Solo’s partner-in-crime, Chewbacca. It’s no surprise that Roken chose this badass weapon. Han borrowed his Wookiee companion’s bowcaster in The Force Awakens and instantly took a liking to it.
5 Other Ways To Fight
The fifth episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi features a recurring flashback to Obi-Wan training Anakin, circa Attack of the Clones. These flashbacks showed off the most Hayden Christensen to date, exhibiting all the rage and aggression that would become Anakin’s downfall.
Obi-Wan’s primary lesson from this training session – “There are other ways to fight” – calls back to Alec Guinness’ line from the original Star Wars film: “There are alternatives to fighting.”
4 Luke’s T-16 Skyhopper Model
Leia ended up being the Skywalker twin featured most prominently in Obi-Wan Kenobi, but the eponymous Jedi kept an eye on Luke near the beginning of the series’ run.
In the first episode, Obi-Wan tries to gift Luke a model of a T-16 skyhopper, but he’s promptly shut down by Owen. This T-16 model is the same starship toy that Luke can be seen playing with in the original Star Wars movie.
3 The Devastator
Darth Vader’s personal Star Destroyer mothership, the Devastator, appears in Obi-Wan Kenobi. This ship has a black catwalk over some Imperial subordinates where Vader can gaze out into space and reflect on his pain.
He’s done this several times throughout Obi-Wan Kenobi’s run. With his old master back in the picture, Vader has a lot of brooding to do. The Devastator was previously featured in the original trilogy and glimpsed as an Easter egg at the end of Revenge of the Sith.
2 Anakin’s Lightsaber
In the first episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi, when the titular Jedi fugitive is reluctantly sprung back into action by Leia’s abduction, he rides out into the desert to retrieve his lightsaber. Obi-Wan’s lightsaber is buried in the desert with Anakin’s.
Obi-Wan’s possession of Anakin’s old blue-bladed lightsaber calls back to the original movie, in which he gives Luke his father’s weapon when adventure calls.
1 Leia Holds Up Under Interrogation
Leia has been kidnapped and interrogated a couple of times throughout Obi-Wan Kenobi’s run, but she’s never caved. When she was taken by bounty hunters, she just kept reiterating that her father would send an army to save her.
When Reva tried to get in her head with the Force, Leia simply quipped, “Is this a staring contest?” This harks back to the original movie, in which Leia was interrogated by Darth Vader and a torture droid and still refused to reveal any information.
From Darth Vader's flagship Star Destroyer to the half-baked alias "Ben Kenobi," Obi-Wan Kenobi is full of nods to the original Star Wars trilogy.Ben Sherlock