Commander Cody Was Almost In 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' According To The Writer Of The Cancelled Film Project
Image Credit: Lucas Furlan
Obi-Wan Kenobi has come and gone, but its effects on the Star Wars galaxy continue to be felt by the fandom and public at large. The six-episode series starring Ewan McGregor and directed by Deborah Chow showed Obi-Wan going on one last Jedi mission prior to A New Hope, briefly leaving Tatooine in order to rescue a young Leia Organa from the Empire’s Inquisitors. This resulted in an emotional confrontation between Kenobi and his former apprentice, Darth Vader, which saw Obi-Wan finally accepting the death of his old friend. This series undoubtedly gave new layers to Obi-Wan’s story and made his connections with Darth Vader and Leia even stronger, while also setting up a potential new story centered on Reva and her possible return to the light. However, there was one more character who was originally planned to appear in the story but did not make the cut. That character was none other than Commander Cody.
In a recent interview with Nathan Johnson of The Direct, Stuart Beattie, one of the writers for Obi-Wan Kenobi revealed several interesting details regarding the show’s narrative. According to Beattie and a few other sources, Obi-Wan’s story was originally going to be not just one film, but a trilogy of films. This trilogy would have shown us even more of Obi-Wan on Tatooine, as well as a couple more familiar characters. One of these characters was Cody, who, since the events of Revenge of the Sith, would have had his inhibitor chip removed before residing with Obi-Wan on Tatooine to aid him in watching over Luke Skywalker. During the interview, Beattie described Cody’s role in the film and his relationship with Obi-Wan:
“Yeah, yeah. Cody was the big one. I love the idea of Obi-Wan having a buddy on Tatooine. Like a secret buddy. So like the first time he goes into town, you see, Cody, and he’s following him through the streets and attacks him, takes him into an alley with a knife to his throat and says, ‘You’re dead.’ And then you realize, ‘Oh, no… Cody’s making a point.’ Like, ‘Come on. You got to be more careful. And you realize, ‘Oh, Cody has now morphed from someone who was trying to kill him when we last saw them to someone who is now devoting his life to protect him.’ Because by now he’s had the biochip taken out of his head, and now he realizes, ‘Oh my god, what I did was wrong.’ And he has driven by guilt, as much as Obi-Wan is driven by guilt. So you got these two kinds of old warriors bickering like this old married couple, b****ing about, 'God, it was so much better when we had an army at our backs,' you know?”
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Beattie also explained that Cody would have originally been the one watching over Luke while Obi-Wan left Tatooine to rescue Leia. As such, the film would occasionally cut to Cody’s perspective to show his progress in maintaining Luke’s safety and secrecy. Beattie then went on to describe a specific sequence in which Cody assisted Obi-Wan in disposing of a few bounty hunters who had discovered him:
"The fun one that I missed the most was actually a scene back on Tatooine with Cody. My Cody was so fun. Cody was with Owen and there were some bounty hunters that had discovered Obi-Wan… And they gotta get rid of the bodies. And so there was just this really fun scene where, you know, what do you do with bodies on Tatooine and you need to get rid of them? Well, you go out to the local Sarlacc, right? They kind of park and they’re having this whole discussion about, you know, Cody shooting… Obi-Wan and all this kind of stuff."
Ultimately, Cody’s role was cut when the film’s story was reworked as a series and became much more focused on Obi-Wan, Leia, Vader, Reva, Luke, and the Lars family. Beattie went on to offer his own thoughts on Cody in the original film:
“I don’t know. I don’t know. They just decided, I don’t know… maybe Temuera Morrison was busy on Boba Fett… It would have been obviously Temuera. Maybe they decided they didn’t need him either. I just felt Obi-Wan needed someone to talk to, someone who could tell him, you know, 'You’re in bad shape.’”
It is extremely interesting to read about these unused ideas from the Obi-Wan film. The concept of Kenobi having a wartime companion on Tatooine with him is quite compelling and would have given viewers even more insight into Obi-Wan’s daily life on the planet, while also giving him someone to bounce ideas off of and banter with. But at the end of the day, I can see why the concept was abandoned. Isolation is a key part of Obi-Wan’s time on Tatooine and giving him a friend to spend his days with might have undermined that idea, as well as the relief we all feel when Kenobi finally connects with his old master Qui-Gon Jinn. In addition, introducing Cody with his inhibitor chip removed and now living alongside Obi-Wan would have been a lot to process in just the opening scenes of the story. That being said, I am not counting any of these ideas out for future stories. Obi-Wan and Cody’s relationship still needs proper closure and I am interested to see if their paths will cross again in the nineteen years leading up to A New Hope. Maybe Obi-Wan would be the one to get that chip out of his head. Or perhaps the guy who gave Fennec Shand her new cybernetic insides also does brain surgery. Either way, we definitely have not seen the last of Commander Cody.
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Source(s): The Direct