Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 3 introduces old and new cameos and familiar voices

Obi-Wan Kenobi’s third episode premiered on Disney Plus at present, and identical to its first, it left us with some questions. The episode options an odd cameo, a mysteriously produced voice, and a deep-cut Clone Wars reference, so let’s unpack all the pieces that’s happening right here.

[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 3.]

Picture: Lucasfilm

Was that Zach Braff???

Picture: Lucasfilm

Yep! You heard appropriately. The Scrubs actor and Backyard State director makes his debut in a cameo as this star-nosed mole man, Freck, who gives Obi-Wan and Leia a experience to the closest spaceport. Sadly for star-nosed mole illustration, Freck seems to be an Imperial sympathizer, sporting the Star Wars equal of a Accomplice flag on his space-truck.

Within the inevitable struggle, Obi-Wan seems to have simply knocked him out somewhat than killed him, so Freck and Braff may probably come again in future episodes.

Was that additionally James Earl Jones?

Picture: Lucasfilm

Sure… form of. Jones’ voice is used to offer life to his most well-known character, Darth Vader, however whether or not Jones was immediately concerned stays to be seen. Jones recorded his personal voice as Darth Vader most lately in Star Wars Rebels and Rogue One (and likewise a really small half in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker). Nevertheless it hasn’t at all times been so easy.

The 91-year-old actor went uncredited within the first two Star Wars motion pictures, and although his voice appeared for use on the finish of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, the road was achieved both by way of an imitation or use of earlier recording materials. Jones himself stated on the time he was unaware of whether or not the voice was his and had not been immediately concerned with the manufacturing.

He will get his due within the credit of Obi-Wan Kenobi, however once more his voice might have been manufactured somewhat than recorded anew. Among the many results corporations listed on the finish of the episode’s credit is Respeecher, for offering “voice conversion providers.” The identical firm labored on The E-book of Boba Fett to provide that factor that’s a giant spoiler for The E-book of Boba Fett.

Who’s Quinlan?

Picture: Lucasfilm

Throughout the episode, Obi-Wan expresses blissful shock that somebody named Quinlan is alive and linked with a secret community of Jedi supporters calling themselves the Path. Quinlan Vos is a personality largely launched by way of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars collection, a Jedi with the distinctive skill to see the reminiscences of different beings by touching objects that they had as soon as touched, making him an skilled tracker.

Nonetheless, being referred to as the Jedi finest suited to infiltrate legal underworlds in the hunt for hard-to-find individuals additionally put him able to be exploited by Jedi hubris. The Jedi council gave Vos a mission to find and kill Rely Dooku by befriending the Sith Lord’s former disciple, the murderer Asajj Ventress.

Vos received very near Ventress; the 2 fell in love, and he accepted her tutelage within the methods of the Darkish Facet. Collectively the 2 mounted a failed assassination try on Dooku by which Vos was captured and tortured till he pledged fealty to the Sith. He turned a double agent, reentering the Jedi order till his modified allegiance was found and the Jedi council once more ordered him to kill Dooku, however this time to redeem himself.

Vos’ second assassination try additionally went poorly, with Ventress sacrificing her life to maintain Dooku from slaying him. Her demise drove Vos to full contrition and a need to really rejoin the Jedi. Obi-Wan personally advocated for Vos to the Jedi Council, saying that the blame for his fall to the Darkish Facet lay with the Council itself for ordering a Jedi knight to commit an act as un-Jedi-like as assassination and asking him to get near the Darkish Facet whereas doing it — which might clarify why Obi-Wan can be so blissful to see that his previous good friend survived the Clone Wars and stays on the aspect of the sunshine.

Picture: Raph Lomotan/Lucasfilm

Vos would go on to turn out to be a common of clone forces, and he was confirmed to have survived the slaughter of the Jedi by clone troopers in — checks notes — Star Wars: Card Dealer, the digital collectible card app.

It’s doable that this one sentence reference is all we get for Vos in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Nevertheless it’s additionally doable that that is only the start of his position. There are a number of actors we all know have been forged in Obi-Wan Kenobi whose characters haven’t but been revealed, together with O’Shea Jackson Jr., who doesn’t not appear like how Vos has been portrayed in Clone Wars and different Star Wars artwork.

With Leia within the palms of Inquisitor Reva Sevander, Vos’ monitoring skill may very well be of excellent use to our hero. And his expertise with the Darkish Facet may actually be grist for Obi-Wan Kenobi’s examination of Jedi who flip unhealthy, each with Anakin’s flip to Darth Vader and, because the present appears to be implying, Reva’s flip from a youngling working for her life within the present’s first episode to the bold Sith Inquisitor she is at present.