Kathleen Kennedy Explains Why Disney Never Considered Rey Kenobi

Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy reveals Rey Kenobi was never officially on the table.

In 2012, Star Wars creator George Lucas sold the rights to Lucasfilm to Disney and Kennedy was appointed as President of Lucasfilm at Lucas' request.

In 2015, Disney rebooted the franchise with the Star Wars sequel trilogy, starting with "The Force Awakens." Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill all returned to reprise their roles from the original trilogy. They were joined by newcomers to the franchise: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver.

Ridley was a relative newcomer to the entertainment industry but managed to blow away director J.J. Abrams with her audition. Ridley was the breakout star of the trilogy, starring as the Force Sensitive character Rey, who was seemingly an orphan abandoned on the desert planet of Jakku.

When "The Force Awakens" first debuted in theaters, it seemed as though everyone had an opinion as to how Rey was so powerful in the force. Some theorized that Rey was secretly a Skywalker who had been sent away for her own safety. R2-D2 only woke up once Rey returned to the Resistance base, which is one example that fans used to support this theory.

Other fans felt that Rey was a Solo due to her interactions with Han Solo. Not only did Rey seem like a natural at flying the Millennium Falcon, the two often finished each other's sentences.

Other fans floated the theory that she was potentially a Kenobi, a Palpatine, or the possibility that she wasn't related to anyone in the original trilogy. In 2017's "The Last Jedi," director Rian Johnson seemed to suggest the latter, that Rey did not have any special lineage to explain her powerful Force powers. However, this line was delivered by Kylo Ren, who - as many fans pointed out - could have been lying or had been misinformed as to Rey's origins.

J.J. Abrams took back the reins for 2019's "The Rise of Skywalker." In the final film of the Skywalker Saga, it's revealed that Palpatine had a clone that didn't have any Force sensitivity, so Palpatine discarded it. That clone then went off and had a child: Rey. Therefore, Rey was a direct descendent of Emperor Palpatine.

Many fans were not exactly happy with this theory and felt that Rey should have been a Kenobi to echo a Skywalker and Kenobi showdown that had taken place in both the original trilogy and prequel trilogy.

That being said, in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Kathleen Kennedy revealed that Rey Kenobi was never something they were willing to consider. Kennedy revealed:

“The bigger issue is talking about Obi-Wan as a Master Jedi, and the issue of attachment and selflessness. In order for Obi-Wan to have a child, you are really, really impacting the rules around the Jedi. What does that mean? If that were explored—and certainly there were a lot of ideas being thrown around—but anything to do with Obi-Wan in that regard was pretty much off the table because it flies in the face of everything George created in the mythology. We’re not rigid about it. It’s certainly open for discussion all the time. But that’s a pretty significant tenet in the mythology of the Jedi that we’d be reluctant to mess with.”

Although Obi-Wan Kenobi's mentor, Qui-Gon Jinn, seemed to question many of the tenets of the Jedi Order, Obi-Wan Kenobi was shown to be devout. At the time, it was possible that Kenobi could have had a child while hiding out on Tatooine, as that part of the canon had never been previously explored.

That being said, that time of Kenobi's life will be revealed in the Disney+ live-action series "Obi-Wan Kenobi," which premieres today on Disney+.

The six-episode limited series features Obi-Wan Kenobi looking after a young Luke Skywalker growing up on Tatooine while avoiding Inquisitors seeking to eliminate the Jedi that managed to survive Order 66.

Fans are excited to see Obi-Wan Kenobi go face to face with Darth Vader again. Although the stakes aren't as high given that fans already know the outcome of the tale and Kenobi's inevitable fate, fans can't wait to learn a little bit more about their fan-favorite character.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi" is currently available to stream on Disney+.