Kenobi casting leak could confirm a huge Obi-Wan fan theory

When Obi-Wan Kenobi died in A New Hope, he was the last Jedi Knight with the name Kenobi. In fact, in real-deal Star Wars canon, Ben Kenobi is the only Star Wars character with that name.

So, that's it for the Kenobi family line, right? There are no more people related to Ben in the entire galaxy?

Well, thanks to new casting rumors for the upcoming Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, the old fan theory of a Kenobi offspring is suddenly viable again. Could flashbacks in Obi-Wan Kenobi create the rise of a younger Kenobi? And could we call that hypothetical person Obi-Too?

(We can, and we will.)

Here's why the possible addition of one character to the Disney+ Kenobi show could lead to a whole new Jedi family tree. Very wild speculation ahead.

Recently, Deadline and several other outlets have reported that Game of Thrones veteran Indira Varma is joining the cast of the limited Kenobi series. To be clear, this casting has not been confirmed by Disney or Lucasfilm, but, that was also true when news of Rosario Dawson playing Ahsoka leaked. The lack of confirmation doesn't mean Varma isn't joining the cast of Kenobi, but it doesn't mean she is, either.

Still, the Torchwood alum seems perfect for the Star Wars universe, which has led fans immediately to the next big question: if Indira Varma is in Kenobi, who is she playing? Assuming it's not a totally new character (very possible), one favorite prediction is emerging from the thousands of voices all crying out in excitement.

Maybe, just maybe, Varma is playing Satine Kryze, the late Duchess of Mandalore.

When did Obi-Wan meet Satine?

In order for Satine to appear in the timeline of Obi-Wan Kenobi, then the show will need to lean on flashbacks.

Lucasfilm long ago confirmed that Obi-Wan Kenobi will take place 8 years after Revenge of the Sith, which puts it roughly 11BBY or 10BBY, about a decade before A New Hope, and roughly around the same time as Solo: A Star Wars Story. But, Clone Wars fans know that Satine was killed by Darth Maul in 19 BBY, right before the events of Revenge of the Sith, which means, if Varma is playing her, Satine would have to appear in flashbacks. (Or a TROS memory-style faux Force Ghost?)

Obi-Wan first met Satine as a young Jed Padawan in between 40 and 30 BBY, before the events of The Phantom Menace when both characters were a little bit younger. Basically, Satine and Obi-Wan's relationship mirrored Padme and Anakin's — the difference being, Satine and Obi-Wan called it off pretty early.

But, this doesn't rule out a possible Kenobi-Satine love child that was kept a secret...

Kenobi offspring theory — explained

So the theory goes: during their time together, Satine became pregnant with Obi-Wan's child. This child was hidden away and raised somewhere else on Mandalore. In order to keep The Clone Wars canon legit, Satine never told Obi-Wan about their child. In The Clone Wars, Obi-Wan and Satine's past love for each other is just something in their backstory, murky enough that we don't even know exactly when the relationship first happened. The point is, there are several moments in their respective timeline where they could have conceived a child, and Obi-Wan may have never known about it.

Now, it feels slightly unlikely that Obi-Wan wouldn't sense his own child through the Force, but then again, Vader went for nearly two decades without knowing he had a child, much less two. So there is a precedent here.

On top of that, Star Wars canon has had a tendency lately (maybe not a good one) of revealing secret family connections. Rey was Palpatine's grandaughter, and nobody expected a Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian until 2019. (Obviously, Grogu might not literally be Yoda's child, but then again, we don't know that he isn't, either.)

Could the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series really deal with a new family line connected to another famous Star Wars surname? It seems a little far-fetched, but again, when you consider the premise of The Mandalorian is about a family unit, it's not totally irrational to think Disney would give Obi-Wan a new backstory that makes him part of a bigger family, too.

Do we need a Baby Kenobi?

Bringing Satine to a live-action Star Wars series would be huge. So huge, in fact, that you don't even need the zany secret Kenobi-baby theory to make it work.

Star Wars has had a bad habit of killing off mother-figures, to the point where it might actually be a bit offensive to bring back Satine as yet another dead mom. (See: Padme, Leia, and Lyra Esro for other examples.) Satine is a cool character without us having to theorize about her being Obi-Wan's baby's mama. She was the ruler of Mandalore, after all!

Flashbacks in Obi-Wan Kenobi seem possible for another reason, too: Anakin. We know that Hayden Christensen is back as Anakin/Darth Vader for this series, but what does that mean? Will Vader just be chilling in his meditation pod having telepathic Force-chats with Obi-Wan? Or, will we see some Anakin and Obi-Wan flashbacks?

The notion of Anakin flashbacks in the new series means there's a hop-skip-and-a-jump to Satine flashbacks, too. Whether these would be set during The Clone Wars or earlier doesn't really matter. Satine is arguably the most important woman in Ben's life, so anything that happened between them in the past could have a huge impact on the relative present of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Obviously, there are a ton of "ifs" surrounding the possible casting of Indira Varma in Obi-Wan Kenobi. If the series is poised to recontextualize the character of Old Ben, then it seems like we'd need some new revelations about his past. We know that Obi-Wan sat in the Tatooine desert for a decade, watching over Luke. But if Obi-Wan Kenobi is going to be successful, it would be nice to tell us some stuff we don't know, too. Six episodes of watching Ewan McGregor slowly become more like The Dude won't quite be enough to make the series worthwhile. For that reason alone, it feels like a dive into Kenobi's past is coming — and when that happens, we may have to start to unlearn what we think we have learned.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is expected to hit Disney+ sometime in 2022.