Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 3 introduces guest appearances, old and new, and familiar voices

Obi Wan KenobiThe third installment of premiered today on Disney Plus and just like the first one, left us with a few questions. The episode features an odd cameo appearance, mysteriously produced voiceover, and a deep cut clone wars Reference, so let’s unpack everything that’s going on here.

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

Image: Lucasfilm

Was that Zach Braff???

Image: Lucasfilm

Yes! You heard me right. That scrubs actor and garden state Director makes his debut in a cameo like this Star-nosed mole Man, freck offering to drive Obi-Wan and Leia to the nearest spaceport. Unfortunately for the portrayal of the star-nosed mole, Freck turns out to be an Imperial sympathizer sporting the Star Wars equivalent of a Confederate flag on his space truck.

In the inevitable fight, Obi-Wan seems to have just knocked him unconscious instead of killing him, allowing Freck and Braff to potentially return in future episodes.

Was that James Earl Jones too?

Image: Lucasfilm

More or less. Jones’ voice will be used to bring his most famous character, Darth Vader, to life, but whether Jones was directly involved remains to be seen. Most recently, Jones recorded his own voice as Darth Vader Star Wars rebels and Villain One (and also a very small part in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker). But it wasn’t always so smooth.

The 91-year-old actor went uncredited in the first two Star Wars films, and although his voice was apparently used in the end Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, the line was achieved either through an imitation or use of earlier recording material. Jones himself said at the time he didn’t know if he provided the voice and was not directly involved in the production.

He gets his right in the credits of Obi Wan Kenobi, but again his voice may have been manufactured rather than re-recorded. Effects companies listed at the end of the episode’s credits include Respeecher for providing “speech conversion services”. The same company continued to work Boba Fett’s book to produce the thing that’s a big spoiler for That Book by Boba Fett.

Who is Quinlan?

Image: Lucasfilm

During the episode, Obi-Wan expresses his pleasant surprise that someone named Quinlan is alive and connected to a secret network of Jedi followers who call themselves the Path. Quinlan Vos is a character that was largely introduced by the Star Wars: The Clone Wars Serie, a Jedi with the unique ability to see other beings’ memories by touching objects they once touched, making him an expert tracker.

However, being known as the Jedi best suited to infiltrating criminal underworlds in search of hard-to-find humans also puts him in a position to be exploited by Jedi hubris. The Jedi Council tasked Vos with finding and killing Count Dooku by befriending the Sith Lord’s former apprentice, assassin Asajj Ventress.

Vos became very close to Ventress; The two fell in love and he accepted her guidance in the ways of the dark side. Together, the two staged a failed assassination attempt on Dooku, during which Vos was captured and tortured until he swore allegiance to the Sith. He became a double agent and rejoined the Jedi Order until his changed allegiance was discovered and the Jedi Council again ordered him to kill Dooku, but this time to redeem himself.

Vos’ second assassination attempt also went badly, Ventress sacrificing her life to stop Dooku from killing him. Her death drove Vos to utter remorse and a desire to truly rejoin the Jedi. Obi-Wan personally lobbied the Jedi Council for Vos, saying that the blame for his fall to the Dark Side rests with the Council itself for ordering a Jedi Knight to do such an un-Jedi-like act as a assassination, and asking him to be close to the dark side while he does it – which would explain why Obi-Wan would be so happy to see his old friend survive the clone wars and remain on the light side.

Vos later became a general of the clone troopers, and has been confirmed to have overseen the slaughter of Jedi by clone troopers in – checks notes — Star Wars: Card Dealerthe digital trading card app.

It’s possible that this one sentence reference is all we get for Vos Obi Wan Kenobi. But it’s also possible that this is just the beginning of his role. There are a few actors that we know have been cast Obi Wan Kenobi whose characters have not yet been revealed, including O’Shea Jackson Jr., who has not Not look like Vos was portrayed clone wars and other Star Wars art.

With Leia in the hands of Inquisitor Reva Sevander, Vos’ tracking ability could be of great use to our hero. And his experience with the dark side could certainly be water for him Obi Wan Kenobi‘s investigation of Jedi going bad, with both Anakin’s turn into Darth Vader and, as the series seems to suggest, Reva’s turn from youth running for her life in the series’ first episode to ambitious Sith Inquisitor who she is today.