New Disney Plus Obi-Wan Kenobi trailer doesn't answer my key lightsaber concern

I'm psyched for the new Disney Plus Star Wars spin-off, but a key question remains for me

Disney Plus TV show Obi-Wan Kenobi
(Image credit: Disney)

As I've written about previously, I see the incoming Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series as the absolution a lot of Star Wars fans deserve.

The prequel Star Wars movies were, for a generation, their Star Wars trilogy, so the fact that they were mixed-to-downright-bad was really, really disappointing.

Importantly, though, there is actually plenty of good things about the prequel Star Wars movies and, chief among them, was Ewan McGregor's turn as young Obi-Wan Kenobi.

As such, the fact that we can now look forward to seeing McGregor's Obi-Wan once more is a great thing. We've just got a fresh trailer for Star Wars day showing him action, too, so catch it below.

What this trailer doesn't show, though, as the previous trailers haven't, either, is any lightsaber combat. And, for me, that will be crucial to how well I receive the new Obi-Wan Kenobi TV show.

One thing the prequel movies did better than any other Star Wars movie to date was delivering epic, well-choreographed lightsaber combat. When I think of the best lightsaber fights in all the Star Wars films to date I think of duels in the prequels.

From the epic 2-on-1 'Duel of the Fates' between Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn versus Darth Maul, to the brief but spectacular Anakin versus Count Dooku fight that culminates in Anakin duel-wielding two lightsabers (so cool!), and onto the cataclysmic Mustafar face-off between Anakin and Obi-Wan, these are the lightsaber fights that stay with me.

Disney+ Star Wars Anakin fighting Count Dooku

(Image credit: Disney)

So what I need to see is that level of choreography return for me to feel properly at home with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ – and at least from Obi-Wan, who in the fiction was trained to a mastery level with the lightsaber. What I don't want is a sudden choreography shift to the more clumsy, less-balletic choreography of the most recent trilogy of movies, which was largely two people hacking away at each other until someone ran out of energy.

We need to stay consistent with the fiction. Ray and Kylo had no training with their lightsabers, so it makes sense they'd be rough with them, but Obi-Wan and, dare I say it, Anakin/Darth Vader, had the best training in the galaxy. These are masters of the energy blade so let's see it – and let's see it from other new characters, too.

Hopefully we will get one more launch trailer for when Obi-Wan starts streaming, which is this month on Friday 27 May. I, like I am sure many Star Wars fans will be doing, will be consuming both the first two episodes back to back. Here's hoping that the action delivered is high quality, and that we get more properly memorable lightsaber fights.

Robert Jones

Rob has been writing about computing, gaming, mobile, home entertainment technology, toys (specifically Lego and board games), smart home and more for over 15 years. As the editor of PC Gamer, and former Deputy Editor for T3.com, you can find Rob's work in magazines, bookazines and online, as well as on podcasts and videos, too. Outside of his work Rob is passionate about motorbikes, skiing/snowboarding and team sports, with football and cricket his two favourites.