The highly-anticipatedStar WarsseriesObi-Wan Kenobitakes place in a previously unexplored period within the timeline. In the two decades that pass between the end ofRevenge of the Sithand the beginning ofA New Hope, Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) watches over Luke Skywalker as he grows up on Tatooine. As we see inA New Hope, Luke is completely unaware of his true heritage. He grows up believing that his father was a navigator on a smuggling vessel, and not the most fearsome villain in the galaxy.
Luke (Mark Hamill) is raised by his aunt and uncle, Beru and Owen Lars. InA New Hope, these characters are played byPhil BrownandShelagh Fraser, respectively. While Beru seems to understand Luke’s desire to travel the galaxy and join the Imperial Academy, Owen disapproves. He discourages Luke from interacting with Obi-Wan (Sir Alec Guinness). Luke is infuriated by his uncle’s strictness. After Stormtroopers looking for R2-D2 and C-3PO trace the droids to Luke’s homestead, Owen and Beru are murdered. Their deaths show that Luke will never be the same farm boy ever again.
It was unclear in 1977 how Luke was related to his guardians. AsGeorge Lucasdidn’t develop the idea that Darth Vader was Luke’s father untilThe Empire Strikes Back, the Skywalker lineage was initially a little murky. Ironically, Owen is referred to as Obi-Wan’s brother in the original novelization forReturn of the Jedi. This was also referenced in the 1999 young adult novelJedi Apprentice: The Hidden Pastwhen Obi-Wan dreams about his life before joining the Jedi Order. The discrepancy was retconned in 2015, explaining Obi-Wan’s memories as a vision, and not an actual memory.
RELATED:Essential Darth Vader Comics to Read Before ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’
The Lars family history was explained more thoroughly in 2002’sAttack of the Clones. When Anakin (Hayden Christensen) returns to Tatooine, he discovers that his mother Shmi (Pernilla August) is no longer a slave. Shmi was freed by their owner, the Toydarian junk dealer Watto (Andy Secombe), by a moisture farmer named Cliegg Lars (Jack Thompson). Cliegg and Shmi have fallen in love and gotten married, and Cliegg brings Shmi home to his farm to live with his son, Owen (Joel Edgerton), who recently married Beru (Bonnie Piesse).
Before the events ofAttack of the Clones, Shmi is captured and tortured by a gang of Tusken Raiders. Although Cliegg had attempted to launch a rescue mission, he was unsuccessful. Anakin barely interacts with Owen and Beru when he arrives. He is entirely focused on saving his mother. After Shmi dies in captivity, Anakin massacres an entire village of Tusken Raiders. It’s the last time that Owen and Beru ever see of their brother-in-law.
InRevenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan, Yoda (Frank Oz), and Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) decide that Luke and Leia must be separated. If they were kept together, their father might be able to detect a disturbance in the Force, and it is important for the children to grow up having normal lives. While Bail decides to raise Leia on Alderaan as his adopted daughter, Yoda tells Obi-Wan to bring Luke back to Tatooine to live with his family. Cliegg dies of his illnesses, so Obi-Wan passes on the infant Luke to Owen and Beru. Owen and Beru watch over the twin sunset during the final shot ofRevenge of the Sith, hearkening back to the famous scene fromA New Hope.
Tatooine is an ideal spot for Luke to be hidden. Vader is unlikely to ever return to his home planet, given his tragic upbringing. However, this saddles Owen and Beru with a responsibility that they never expected. Owen and Beru are kind, yet simple people. They’re barely capable of protecting their home turf from raids by the Tusken Raiders. They know very little about the exploits of the Jedi, and the larger galactic conflict.
However, we see throughout theStar Warssaga that Tatooine is relatively unaffected by the major galactic conflicts. The Hutt clan is so powerful that the Republic barely knows about the planet; even though slavery is outlawed by the Galactic Senate, Anakin grows up as Watto’s property. This context makes Owen and Beru more relatable; they’re relatively unaware of what is going on in the rest of the galaxy. All they know about Luke are their memories of his father’s murderous spree.
The trailer forObi-Wan Kenobisuggests that Owen holds on to some animosity for Obi-Wan. InA New Hope, Owen tells Luke that Obi-Wan is “just a crazy old man.” While this may have only been to protect Luke from learning about the Jedi, Owen doesn’t entirely trust Obi-Wan’s intentions. Owen tells Obi-Wan that he shouldn’t train Luke and fail him “like you did his father” in the first official clip. It will be interesting to see how their relationship develops over the course of the Disney+ series.
