Will 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' Fix This 'Star Wars' Plot Hole?
*Possible spoilers for Obi-Wan Kenobi*
The retcon of Leia being Luke's sister from Return of the Jedi will never not be low-hanging fruit for the Star Wars fandom. From that first peck on the cheek in A New Hope to the infamous kiss in The Empire Strikes Back, the characters' familial connection clearly wasn't planned from the beginning. Though, to be fair, it was probably the best decision George Lucas could've made given the circumstances.
First, not wanting to fully commit himself to a sequel trilogy, he had to have said planned trilogy's central character, Luke's twin sister, be revealed in Return of the Jedi so as not to leave an unresolved story thread. Then, out of necessity, he simply had to make Leia the remaining hope mentioned by Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back. Plus, the retcon has made for many good stories and moments since then, specifically Luke and Leia's final meeting in The Last Jedi. But there is still one more lingering plot hole from A New Hope that has yet to be explained.
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Throughout the original trilogy, we see that Darth Vader is fully capable of sensing Luke's power with the Force from great distances, even before knowing his and Luke's shared lineage. This creates an interesting question: why wasn't Vader also able to sense Leia's power in any of their shared scenes in A New Hope?
Even if he couldn't sense their shared blood, why couldn't he at least feel her connection to the Force while he was standing right next to her? Now out of universe, the reason is that Lucas simply hadn't decided to make Leia and Vader related yet. But Star Wars has a history of going back to explain the inconsistencies between its films and series. So how could the franchise go about defining this long-standing plot hole? Personally, I think Obi-Wan Kenobi is a strong contender for this.
The highly anticipated series starring Ewan McGregor is set to bridge the gap between the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy, seeing how the titular Jedi goes from being an adventure-seeking knight to a mysterious, weary mentor figure. It will also see him go toe-to-toe with his former apprentice once again, in a way that will likely show how Obi-Wan ends up losing all faith in redeeming the Sith Lord. So how will Obi-Wan end up getting drawn into such an epic quest?
Well, numerous rumors and reports are going around about Obi-Wan possibly having to leave Tatooine to guard a young Leia Organa against the Empire. While these details haven't been officially confirmed anywhere, it does seem like a likely possibility since such a task would be significant enough to have Obi-Wan temporarily leave the desert planet. This rumor also leads to my theory regarding the aforementioned plot hole.
If Obi-Wan's mission in this series is to protect Leia from the Empire, perhaps he could teach her how to harness her Force abilities and even, to a certain extent, hide them. This would make sense considering the Empire's use of Vader and its many Inquisitors to hunt down Force-sensitives across the galaxy. Therefore, if Obi-Wan teaches Leia to mask her power, it could explain why Vader could not sense her Force-sensitivity on either the Tantive IV or the Death Star. Now, of course, this is purely speculation based on a rumor going around.
But if this rumor about Leia does end up being true, this could be an opportunity for Star Wars to finally explain that one plot hole still remains from the very first film in the series. Obi-Wan Kenobi is set to debut on May 25th this year and will most likely mark Ewan McGregor's final return to the role. So naturally, Star Wars fans are expecting big things from this series, and it seems like it's going to do some pretty big things. So if the franchise does want to explain that 45-year-old plot hole, I'd say Obi-Wan Kenobi is highly likely to cover that ground.
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