This morning fans got their first look at the live-action Disney+ series Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi thanks to the teaser trailer released during the Disney shareholders meeting.
As we usually try to do here at Laughing Place, I’ve combed through the Obi-Wan Kenobi trailer shot-by-shot to see what information we can glean from this initial clip.
Shot 1: Presumably a Tatooine desert landscape. And I’m assuming that’s the titular Obi-Wan Kenobi riding an Eopie (a beast of burden first seen in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace) in the far distance.
Shot 2: Obi-Wan leads his Eopie through the streets of Mos Eisley (though it could also be Mos Espa) as merchants and passersby go about their business. In the background is a goat-like creature– this could be a gill-goat (mentioned in a couple Star Wars novels), but I’m not 100% sure.
Shot 3: Obi-Wan looks to be working or shopping in some kind of marketplace, perhaps cutting meat or bread on a long table, as extras pass by in the foreground.
Obi-Wan (voice-over): “The fight is done.”
Shot 4: Reverse of the first shot as Obi-Wan rides his Eopie through the desert.
Obi-Wan (voice-over): “We lost.”
Shot 5: From behind, we see Obi-Wan sitting in a crevasse in a rocky Tatooine outcropping. A satchel and what looks like a canteen sit next to him on either side. In the far distance is a small, familiar-looking homestead.
Shot 6A: Obi-Wan’s point-of-view looking through macrobinoculars at the Lars homestead, surrounded by moisture vaporators. Beru Lars (Bonnie Piesse) stands in the entrance, while Owen Lars (Joel Edgerton) walks to the right. A roughly ten-year-old child sits on the homestead’s main structure.
Shot 6B: The macrobinoculars zoom in to reveal a young Luke Skywalker (actor unknown) energetically pretending to drive a speeder– or maybe even a podracer– while perched on the building.
Shot 7: Obi-Wan lowers his macrobinoculars as he continues to watch over young Luke. The music is John Williams’s instantly recognizable “Force Theme” from the original Star Wars trilogy.
Obi-Wan (voice-over): “Stay hidden.”
Shot 8: The Lucasfilm logo, in Tatooine browns and tans. Like sand, it gets blown away by the wind. The choir of “Duel of the Fates” from The Phantom Menace kicks in.
Shot 9A: I don’t believe this ship has been seen before, but I think it is meant to be reminiscent of the Fury-class Imperial Interceptor used by the Sith Inquisitors in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Here it races through the mist toward a destination that is initially unseen…
Shot 9B: The camera tilts up as the ship approaches its destination– an obelisk-shaped Imperial base on an ocean planet with a landing pad situated in an opening in its core. We can see some other Imperial shuttles and transports parked on the platform.
Grand Inquisitor (voice-over): “The key to hunting Jedi…”
Shot 10: The Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) interrogates a citizen of Tatooine in what looks like some sort of dining establishment.
Grand Inquisitor (voice-over): “…is patience.”
Shot 11: Title card – “STREAMING EXCLUSIVELY ON DISNEY+”
Shot 12: A land vehicle towing a trailer full of passengers speeds toward a settlement in the distance. Again, this could be either Mos Eisley or Mos Espa, though that tower in the center doesn’t look familiar.
Grand Inquisitor (voice-over): “Jedi cannot help what they are.”
Shot 13: Obi-wan sits in the trailer pod with what looks like a group of migrant workers. A couple different alien species can be spotted among the group of mostly humans.
Shot 14: Inquisitor Reva (Moses Ingram) meets with the Grand Inquisitor– now wearing his more familiar helmet and lightsaber mounted on his back– and another Inquisitor character at a large table in the Imperial base, as stormtroopers stand guard in the background.
Shot 15: A crowd gathers and looks up at someone who has been hanged on Tatooine, presumably for not participating with the Inquisitors’ hunt.
Grand Inquisitor (voice-over): “Their compassion…”
Shot 16: Reva stands in the foreground, raising her lightsaber hilt threateningly at the crowd. Then she turns behind her to face…
Shot 17: …Owen Lars, who looks concerned and worried.
Grand Inquisitor (voice-over): “…leaves a trail.”
Shot 18: Reva crouches on a rooftop on the bustling planet of Daiyu (as revealed in today’s Entertainment Weekly article about Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi). The Aurebesh in the neon lights here reads “ER.”
Shot 19: Reverse of the previous shot. Reva looks down on the city below. The neon sign on the top of the building in the background reads “MILK” in Aurebesh.
Shot 20: From behind, the Inquisitor ship lands in a city street on Tatooine.
Grand Inquisitor (voice-over): “The Jedi code is like an itch.”
Shot 21: The camera pans up on an Imperial officer (Indira Varma) holding a blaster pistol and deboarding the ramp of a ship against a hilly backdrop.
Shot 22: Back on Daiyu, an Inquisitor stalks her prey in a chaotic bazaar. A stormtrooper watches over the locals behind her, and the Aurebesh on the wall in the background reads “HOSS MAR,” (maybe “MARKET”?) though this is likely only part of the text.
Shot 23: Obi-Wan spots the Inquisitor from the crowd on Daiyu.
Grand Inquisitor (voice-over): “They cannot help it!”
Shot 24: Some kind of terrifying-looking droid faces off with an Imperial stormtrooper. The Aurebesh on its collar reads “NED.”
Shot 25: The stormtrooper readies a melee weapon of some kind in his right hand.
Shot 26: Reva runs along a plank that is lowering between the rooftops of buildings on Daiyu.
Shot 27: From below, Reva leaps through the air.
Shot 28: The Grand Inquisitor spins his double-bladed lightsaber as an enemy only seen in silhouette from behind approaches, and a stormtrooper watches from the background.
Grand Inquisitor: “Where is he?”
Shot 29: Title card – “BETWEEN DARKNESS”
Shot 30: An Inquisitor leads a battalion of stormtroopers through the streets of Daiyo. Among the Aurebesh neon signs visible in the background are “SNACKS,” “MARKET,” “MILK,” and (strangely) “GUNGAN.”
Shot 31: What look like two escape pods hurtle through space.
Shot 32: An unknown character (his haircut doesn’t quite match Owen’s) tries to slip past Reva in the Tatooine restaurant, but doesn’t quite make it, as she cuts him off and ignites her lightsaber.
Shot 33: Title card – “AND DEFEAT”
Shot 34: A hand, in silhouette, brushes up against some symbols etched into wood paneling. I can’t quite make out what they’re supposed to be, but the one behind the fingers looks like the Jedi Order insignia.
Shot 35: Reva has a showdown with an unseen enemy holding a blaster in a dark alleyway on what is probably Daiyu.
Shot 36: A blaster fight erupts between several silhouetted figures on the rooftops of Daiyu.
Shot 37: From above, a flock of green-feathered birds take flight from the roof as the blaster fight continues.
Shot 38: Title card – “HOPE SURVIVES”
Shot 39: A close-up on Obi-Wan looking down, sad, and then up into the distance.
Shot 40: Title card – “STAR WARS: OBI-WAN KENOBI – LIMITED SERIES STREAMING MAY 25”
We hear the unmistakable mechanical breathing sound of Darth Vader.
Shot 41: Obi-Wan’s lightsaber slices through the screen to create the arc over the Disney+ logo.
Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres Wednesday, May 25, exclusively on Disney+.