Obi-Wan Kenobi: The Problem With Prequels

gamerant.com:

Developing the franchise timeline is a long and complex process, but every new entry into the history of a character with a defined ending has an uphill battle. It can be impossible to build tension when the story has a thousand built-in spoilers and the ending was settled decades ago.

Obi-Wan Kenobi dramatizes the life of one of the most beloved Star Wars characters in the period between the prequels and the original trilogy. The main cast of the series includes the eponymous Obi-Wan and a young Princess Leia, both of whom died on-screen in other Star Wars projects. This makes it pretty tough to see young Leia dangling from a high wire and ignore the fact that we all know she'll be fine.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: 5 Details Only Die-Hard Fans Noticed In The First Two Episodes

Obi-Wan Kenobi will end with the titular former master living on Tatooine as a hermit and watching over Luke as he comes into his force powers. The series will end with Leia coming into her role in the Rebellion and her role in the politics of her home planet Alderaan. Fans already know all the major events that will follow the events of the series. While the moments contained within are new material, the impact of the story is weakened by the fact that everyone has already seen hours of «where are they now» content for the main characters. This puts a high bounty on new characters, but the show doesn't provide nearly enough to change the impact. This is a problem that the franchise will continue to deal with and hasn't found an elegant solution to.

This isn't uncommon in franchise media. Most of the biggest names in modern cinema are based around IP which was established in the previous millennium, if not earlier. Prequels aren't without merit, there's still