A Reva ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Spinoff Could Be Happening, And That’s A Terrible Idea

Obi-Wan Kenobi is off to a rough start. While critic reviews for the show have been largely positive—your humble narrator a notable exception—Rotten Tomatoes shows that only 54% of fans reportedly like the show, compared to 87% of critics.

Many fans are simply confused and disappointed for one reason or another.

These reasons range from the strange editing and direction to the plot itself, which is riddled with plot holes and bizarre narrative choices. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) remains the highlight of the show, much as he was the highlight of the abysmal prequel Star Wars movies.

But the show often feels like it’s being written for characters other than our titular hero—namely Reva (Moses Ingram,) Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair—who was not yet ten when they filmed this) and Tala (Indira Varma).

This is starting to feel like the Reva, Leia and Tala show.

Three female characters whose names all have four letters and sound almost the same. Reva…Leia…Tala…like a spell you might chant at a Wiccan séance, or an incantation young Willow Ufgood might take a crack at with Fin Raziel’s wand.

Reva Leia, Tala danu Locktwarr danelora, Luatha danu, tuatha tuatha, chnox danu!

Sorry, I guess Willow is on my mind these days for some strange reason.

Anyways, I’m getting sidetracked. My point is, Disney’s Obi-Wan Kenobi show has been a very mixed bag, with a very disappointing Vader showdown, a ridiculous rescue mission plucked straight out of A New Hope and lots of other foibles.

Obi-Wan himself has been overshadowed by the side-characters in the show, whether that’s the precocious little imp, Leia, or the spy Tala, or the Inquisitors (who are all ridiculous, cartoonish buffoons except for Reva, and we’ll get to her in a moment).

Obi-Wan is understandably leery of using the force in the first couple episodes when he’s still trying to remain hidden, and I even understand that he’s rusty, but he ends up needing saving more than once and has, throughout most of this season, spent most of the time looking a little bewildered and lost. I know he needs an arc, and going from rusty Jedi-in-hiding to badass Jedi Master could be satisfying, but it just hasn’t been executed very well.

Meanwhile, other than Tala (who I like, though I’m not sure she’s been written terribly well) the other two main female characters are incredibly annoying. I have described Leia as overcooked and I mean it. She’s too precocious, too clever for her age (and she seems more like 7 than 10) and just too much the new Grogu but much, much chattier. Maybe this would work better if the show let Obi-Wan and Leia actually have more time to develop a relationship, but it’s just all over the place.

Third Sister Reva, meanwhile, is just not working for me at all. I have compared her to the much more sinister and fascinating character Second Sister, Trilla, from Jedi Fallen Order. Trilla was a terrific character and well cast—Elizabeth Grullon is perfect in the role.

I worry that Reva is going down the same path as Trilla, who (SPOILERS FOR FALLEN ORDER) had a brief moment of redemption at the end of the video game before Darth Vader showed up and executed her for her failure.

Vader was about to do the same to Reva in episode four simply for screwing up and letting Obi-Wan get away, but let her go when she revealed she’d put a tracker on him which could lead them all to the rebels (though why Obi-Wan wouldn’t take Leia home is beyond me, and the tracker is in her droid…so…)

Reva, I believe, will also have a redemptive arc—after all, Obi-Wan is cribbing plenty from Fallen Order already—and become a good guy and maybe (probably, since Obi-Wan is not the hero of his own show) become the hero of the day as well, paving the way for her to get her very own spinoff on Disney Plus.

Or at least, that’s the rumor. As reported by Screen Geek—vis-a-vis “sources” so take it with a grain of salt—there is talk of a Reva live-action spinoff coming down the pipeline. I think this is a terrible idea because I find the character so jarring and because, let’s face it, if neither Star Wars fan favorites Boba Fett nor Obi-Wan can successfully carry their own show, how will a little known and not-much-liked Inquisitor make it work?

Yes, Moses Ingram has suffered from toxic fan hatred and uncalled for abuse. I’m sure some of this is sexist, some of it is racist, some of it is trolling and much of it is from people who love to take their anger and fanaticism out on actors who deserve no such abuse.

On the other hand, as a movie and TV critic I have to say I do not love the casting choice or the character or her story so far. Perhaps with a better script, Reva would be a more interesting character; or, perhaps, with a different actor her character would be more believable. Frankly, the whole show feels deeply pointless and I have little faith in any potential spinoffs.