The Obi-Wan Kenobi series is releasing soon, and fans are overwhelmed with how much the show looks to be bringing to the canon. One of the biggest reveals of the series so far is that the Grand Inquisitor will be making his live-action debut. The character first appeared in Star Wars Rebels and was the first ever Inquisitor introduced to the canon. While not much was revealed about him initially in Rebels, over time fans learned more and discovered that there were also other Inquisitors. Now the Inquisitors are a staple in Star Wars, and fans are thrilled to be seeing many of them come to live action.
The Grand Inquisitor made his first appearance in 2014 in the pilot episode of Star Wars Rebels. Fans learned that he was a Jedi hunter for the Empire. Whenever rumors of rogue Jedi came up, he was one of the people sent to investigate. He was a unique character right from the beginning. For many years, the only dark force users were Darth Vader and Palpatine, but the introduction of the Grand Inquisitor changed the whole canon. He helped to establish that the Empire used Jedi who had turned from the light or were tortured into service to hunt down the last of their kind. While the Grand Inquisitor is a villainous character, this also makes him a sympathetic one.
Rebels depicted the Grand Inquisitor as a vicious and cruel Jedi hunter, relentlessly tracking Kanan and Ezra to kill or capture them. He is a thorn in the side of the entire Ghost Crew and is an incredible threat to the Rebellion. Initially, that is all that is known about him. He serves under Darth Vader, and he possesses a single-minded determination to wipe out the remaining Jedi. At the end of the first season, Kanan and the Grand Inquisitor dueled, with Kanan finally overcoming the Inquisitor and ending his reign of terror on the galaxy. This was a big moment for Kanan, as it would serve as his trial for becoming a Jedi Knight. With the Grand Inquisitor's death, fans were left wondering who he was and where he had come from.
It isn't until Star Wars Rebels Season 2, Episode 18 "Shroud of Darkness" that fans were given more backstory on the character. The Grand Inquisitor was once a Jedi Temple Guard, even serving during the trial of Ahsoka Tano. After the results of that trial, the Grand Inquisitor became disillusioned with the ways of the Jedi, so when Order 66 occurred, he fell to the dark side and began to serve the Empire. One of the first Jedi he hunted was Luminara Unduli. He held her captive until her death and then continued to use her corpse as a way to lure Jedi to him. After his death, he appeared to Kanan in a Force vision as a Temple Guard. It was in this vision that he made Kanan an official Jedi Knight.
His lightsaber -- a double-bladed red saber able to spin around its hilt -- was also unique at the time, though now it seems to be a staple of the Inquisitors. The lightsaber made him harder to fight because it was in constant motion. While these blades received some criticism from fans, it was mostly for other Inquisitors who used the spin motion of the blades to fly like a helicopter. The Grand Inquisitor had a relatively short life in Star Wars Rebels, but his impact is still being felt throughout Star Wars. His design and backstory has inspired dozens of new Inquisitors and given Star Wars a new set of villains that can be even more tragic and evil than the Sith.
The Grand Inquisitor is the template that all other Inquisitors are spawned from. Many fans are thrilled to see him finally get his due and make a live-action appearance. Other fans, while still happy to see him in live action, are lamenting the changes in his appearance, much like the controversy surrounding Cad Bane. With the Obi-Wan Kenobi series set years before the events of Star Wars Rebels there is potential that the Grand Inquisitor could make even more live-action appearances before his death in Season One of Rebels.
Obi-Wan Kenobi will be streaming on Disney+ starting May 27, 2022.