Star Wars: Rebels Fans Are Worried Obi-Wan Kenobi Part II Just Broke Canon

Contains spoilers for "Obi-Wan Kenobi" Part II

Parts I and II of "Obi-Wan Kenobi" are officially in the books, with Disney+ debuting the long-awaited series early Friday, May 27. And while there's already so much to discuss, fans can't seem to stop talking about one major moment from the second episode — with many fearing that it officially broke "Star Wars" canon.

When we meet Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan in Part I of the show, the legendary Jedi Master is hiding away on Tatooine while the franchise's infamous Inquisitorius (aka Inquisitors) scour the galaxy for him and other Force-sensitive beings following the events of Order 66 in the prequel movies. The Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) leads a powerful team made up of the Fifth Brother (Sung Kang) and Third Sister Reva Sevander (Moses Ingram), with them eventually luring Obi-Wan to the seedy planet of Daiyu using a kidnapping scheme involving young Princess Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair). Reva winds up being the one to orchestrate the entire plan, though she does it behind the back of the Grand Inquisitor and incurs his wrath as a result.

"Third sister! I can stand the reek of your ambition no longer," the Grand Inquisitor tells her. "I found him. We have him!" Reva replies. "And I cannot risk you losing him again," he fires back, before ordering her to move aside. What happens next has "Star Wars" fans — more specifically, "Star Wars Rebels" diehards — wondering if Deborah Chow and co. have decided to retcon the animated series before our very eyes. 

It's a moment that has tons of fans online talking, especially the "Star Wars Rebels" crowd. 

"Um wait a minute, did Reva just merk the Grand Inquisitor?" wrote Redditor u/gothflyboi, sparking nearly 2,000 upvotes. "Literally hopped on just to see what people thought of that, because we definitely know his ultimate fate but it's definitely not this early," replied u/I_Am_Sam13. Another Redditor named u/Kvothe_the_kingkilla asked, "I mean he can't be dead, this is before 'Rebels' right?" 

After being ordered by the Grand Inquisitor to get out of his way at the end of "Obi-Wan Kenobi" Part II, Moses Ingram's Reva decides to do her best Sith Lord impression on her big bad boss — striking him down with her lightsaber and ultimately taking his place in the hunt for Obi-Wan Kenobi. In "Rebels," the Grand Inquisitor doesn't even come close to going out like that, instead choosing to end his own life after losing a lightsaber duel to Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze Jr.).

"There are some things far more frightening than death," utters the Inquisitor in "Rebels," moments before allowing himself to suffer a deadly fall (per StarWars.com). He had been so worried about what Darth Vader would do to him after finding out he lost to Kanan that the Inquisitor ultimately chose to die instead. But in "Obi-Wan Kenobi," we are getting a completely different story.

Many viewers believe that if the Grand Inquisitor is, in fact, dead in "Obi-Wan Kenobi" like so many people assume, then it ultimately changes "Rebels" canon for good, since "Obi-Wan Kenobi" takes place four years before the animated series (via Den of Geek). However, there's also a large portion of people who believe the big baddie will somehow survive Reva's lightsaber to the belly and find a way to stick around in the long run.

"I'm about to [be] sad af if that changes the ['Rebels' canon] timeline," wrote Redditor u/stardewpancakes. "Yeah he ain't dead," noted u/The_R3medy. "Like 'Rebels' is fairly explicitly canon with the whole, ya know, Mandalorian, [Ahsoka], and more all being a thing." Reddit user u/worlkjam5 joked: "Get that man a bacta tank. We can't be screwing the canon like that!"

While it's easy to assume that the Grand Inquisitor in "Obi-Wan Kenobi" has bitten the dust, most should probably wait at least until Part III before declaring the Jedi hunter officially deceased. As we've seen time and time again, characters in "Star War" lore are notorious for narrowly escaping death or making surprising comebacks. So everyone will just have to watch the next chapter of "Obi-Wan Kenobi" when it's rolled out on Disney+ June 1.