‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Review Roundup: What Do Critics Think of Disney+’s New ‘Star Wars’ Show?

After nearly two decades of anticipation, Obi-Wan Kenobi has finally arrived on Disney+. The six episode series premiered its first two episodes a few hours earlier than expected online, as well as a special advance premiere at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, meaning both fans and critics have had a long couple of hours to really sit and marinate on the series, before delivering their reviews.

Just kidding, of course, most of the East Coast hasn’t even woken up yet, so it’s a little early for the Obi-Wan Kenobi Rotten Tomatoes score, or Metacritic score. But the first Obi-Wan Kenobi reviews are already rolling in, and good news for fans of Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan: they’re pretty good.

Our own Brett White, who is currently out in California, got to watch the first two episodes of Obi-Wan with a crowd of fans, and called it a “tense thrill ride that exceeds the hype.” He added that, “If Mandalorian is a low key ode to the episodic action shows of the ’80s, the TV equivalent of dumping out all the leftover action figures and smashing them together, then Obi-Wan Kenobi is the first true prestige drama of the franchise.”

CNN agreed with the positive assessment, saying, “the episodic format allows for a somewhat more leisurely pace in exploring the characters and laying out the story.” Contradicting that, however, they also felt “Disney/Lucasfilm probably left money on the table by pursuing this streaming route,” since reteaming Ewan McGregor with Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in a theatrical movie “would have been a can’t-miss commodity.”

Over on the other side of the pond, The Independent gave the premiere four out of five stars, calling out McGregor’s return to the franchise in particular; and that all these years later, McGregor, “adds new dimensions to the character, without losing the old – his dry wit, his unflappable dignity. The Jedi has returned.”

Getting into spoilers for the second episode in particular, IGN noted that Vivien Lyra Blair “makes for a surprisingly likable young Leia, even with her sometimes inexplicable ability to know almost everything about anything,” and called her this series’ Grogu, the adorable companion of The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal). They also shouted out “Kumail Nanjiani, who brings his usual charm to grifter Haja Estree.”

Multiple reviews compared the series to John Wick, both in terms of the “old hero being called back to action one last time” trope and the look of the planet in the second episode. Though the comparison was favorable for The Guardian (“when the show leans most heavily into this premise, it works marvellously”), they were less than favorable in their overall review, giving the episodes three out of five stars. “Did it need to be made? No. Is its existence a sign of creative exhaustion? Probably. But does it make the best of its thankless job? Happily, yes it does.”

Deadline offered up the most negative review (so far), quipping that, “The Force is not strong with Obi-Wan Kenobi… too coy and cute to be taken seriously as anything more than [a] slick-ish subscriber grab.” But CNET disagreed, stating, “With blaster battles and bounty hunter droids and sneering Imperials, it’s all satisfyingly Star Wars, with some nifty worldbuilding like battered drug dealers and a poignant cameo that stops Obi-Wan in this tracks.”

Will CNET and Deadline finally settle their beef by the time the series ends? Only time will tell.

New episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.