‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Finale Recap: Ending and Cameos Explained

Obi-Wan Kenobi came to an end on Wednesday, with episode 6 — the season finale — of the live-action Star Wars miniseries hitting Disney Plus. We caught up with exiled Jedi Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor), little Princess Leia Organa (Vivien Lyra Blair) and a bunch of refugees after they fled from Darth Vader (formerly Anakin Skywalker, played by Hayden Christensen and voiced by James Earl Jones) in episode 5.

Unfortunately, their escape may not be so straightforward. Anti-Imperial network leader Roken (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), who’s been helping Jedi and Force sensitives escape the Empire via an underground railroad known as the Path, reveals that their ship’s hyperdrive is broken and the Empire is in hot pursuit.

Former Imperial Inquisitor Reva (Moses Ingram) was left for dead by Vader after she tried to strike the Sith Lord down. She’s too angry to die though, and seemingly figured out that 10-year-old Luke Skywalker is Vader’s secret son and living in hiding on Tatooine. 

Obi-Wan sensed the danger to Luke through the Force, so I guess he’ll have to get back to the desert world to confront Reva. At least no one figured out that Leia is Vader’s other secret child.

It’s time to draw deeply upon the Force and sense some SPOILERS for the finale. This series takes place around 10 years after Revenge of the Sith and nine years before A New Hope.

The master returns

With Vader defeated and Reva having abandoned her quest for vengeance by sparing young Luke, Obi-Wan has opened himself up to the Force again. He leaves his dingy Tatooine cave, paying a brief visit to the Lars homestead. 

Uncle Owen (Joel Edgerton) initially regards the Jedi with his usual suspicion, but warms to him when Obi-Wan acknowledges that Luke “just needs to be a boy” and that the Lars’ protection is all the young fella needs. Isn’t that nice? It’s so nice, in fact, that Owen allows Obi-Wan to meet Luke.

“Hello there,” he says to his future apprentice, breaking out his signature greeting because Lucasfilm couldn’t resist and we all needed to hear it — I certainly feel better.

Obi-Wan continues his trek to his new home in the Dune Sea, where we’ll find him in A New Hope, but encounters one last person on his way — the Force ghost of his late master,  Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson).

“Well, took you long enough,” says Qui-Gon.

The spectral Jedi suggests that his former Padawan having cut himself off from the Force was the reason he hadn’t shown up sooner.

“I was always here, Obi-Wan. You just were not ready to see,” he says. “Come on, we’ve got a ways to go.”

Qui-Gon was impaled by Darth Maul in prequel trilogy opener The Phantom Menace (he’s seen briefly in The Clone Wars, with Neeson providing the character’s voice). He was the first Jedi ever to become a Force ghost and guide his allies in the material realm.

Over the next decade, leading into the Original Trilogy, Qui-Gon will teach this skill to Obi-Wan. This allows Obi-Wan to offer Luke counsel even after Vader strikes the Jedi down on the Death Star in A New Hope.

The other master

Knowing Obi-Wan is still out there, Vader is throwing a little hissy fit in his castle on the unpleasant volcano planet Mustafar. Speaking to a holographic projection of his master, Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), Vader vows to make a big mess of the galaxy in his hunt for the Jedi.

“I wonder if your thoughts on this are clear, Lord Vader,” says Palpatine. “Perhaps your feelings for your old master have left you weakened. If your past cannot be overcome…”

It’s more of that classic Palps manipulation, since he wants his Sith apprentice focused on galactic domination rather than revenge.The jab/subtle threat clearly leaves Vader staken.

“Kenobi means nothing,” he says. “I serve only you, my master.”

The Imperial March plays as we leave Vader, suggesting that he’s 100% Empire. Go team Sith.

This article will be updated shortly.