"Part III" is the third episode of the American streaming television series Obi-Wan Kenobi, based on Star Wars created by George Lucas.
Darth Vader instructs the Third Sister (Reva Sevander) to find his former Jedi Master-turned-enemy Obi-Wan Kenobi, promising her the position of Grand Inquisitor if she succeeds.
Kenobi and Leia Organa's transport lands on the planet Mapuzo, and they proceed to the rendezvous con man Haja Estree provided.
By August 2017, Lucasfilm was developing a spin-off film focusing Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi from the prequel trilogy.
[4][5] Deborah Chow was hired to direct all episodes for the series by September 2019, while Joby Harold became the head writer and showrunner in April 2020 following Kennedy's disapproval with the scripts and subsequent rewrites.
[2][8][9] Chow also took inspirations from "gritty, poetic westerns" including The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), The Proposition (2005), and the works of Akira Kurosawa.
"[11] He had also written a scene where Kenobi imagines Anakin Skywalker staring at him while travelling Mapuzo with Princess Leia, and had felt it was "very potent because it's not a catch-up flashback at the beginning of an episode or a dream sequence.
[12] He wanted to include the reference to Padmé Amidala as he had felt she was also another important character in the episode, explaining that "it works because it's about Leia within the scene.
[15] When writing Kenobi and Vader's lightsaber duel, he wanted to subvert expectations that the confrontation would happen towards the end of the series.
"[11][12] The episode stars Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and features co-stars Vivien Lyra Blair as Princess Leia, Moses Ingram as Reva Sevander / Third Sister, Sung Kang as the Fifth Brother, Rya Kihlstedt as the Fourth Sister, Zach Braff as Freck, Indira Varma as Tala, and Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader.
[20] Principal photography began on May 4, 2021, on the annual Star Wars Day celebration, with Deborah Chow directing, and Chung-Chung hoon serving as cinematographer.
[25] Visual effects for the episode were created by ILM, Hybride, Image Engine, Important Looking Pirates, Soho VFX, Wētā FX, Blind LTD, and ReDefine.
The first three shots in the sequence where Kenobi and Leia's ship land on Mapuzo was fully created using computer-generated imagery (CGI).
Sequences featuring Freck's transport required removing the vehicle's wheels, adding a CG extension underneath, and recreating the environment around it.
Compositing lead Joel Tong modified and regraded plate shots so that the footage from on-location and bluescreen filming had matching lighting conditions.
The site's critical consensus reads, "Obi-Wan Kenobi still hasn't achieved the epic execution its premise promises, but the return of an iconic villain lends this installment a ghostly gravitas.
"[33] Rating the episode 4 stars out of 5, Megan Crouse of Den of Geek highlighted Kenobi and Vader's confrontation and the characterization of the two characters.
He criticized the episode's plot, feeling that it was "stitched together from known Star Wars tropes" and felt the series' narrative focus on Vader and Leia negatively affected the quality of its character study for Kenobi.
He criticized the writing and plot of the episode, calling the interactions between Kenobi, Leia, and Reva as being a "hopscotch around the galaxy in various pursuits of each other".
He did not like Kenobi's repeated attempts to converse with the Force ghost of Qui-Gon Jinn, and said of the writing process that it "seems like it involves the smoothing out of many drafts into something that basically makes enough sense but isn't going to wow anyone with the quiet grace of its storytelling".
In fact, it very much feels like something included at around the series' halfway mark to sate the Vader fanboys", criticizing some of the dialogue in the scene, but praising Chow's direction and use of visuals.