Stuart Beattie

Stuart Beattie

Stuart Beattie (bornAugust 4,1971)^[1] is anAustralian filmmaker who was a writer on anObi-Wan Kenobi trilogy, spending about a year and a half writing the script for its first film. He created theInquisitorReva and gave a big role toclone trooperCody. After the poor box office performance ofSolo: A Star Wars Story, Beattie left the project andJoby Harold turned his scripts into a six-hourtelevision series. Beattie still received teleplay, story, and writing credits for four episodes of the series.

Biography[]

When Stuart Beattie pitched his threeObi-Wan Kenobi stories toLucasfilm, he explained that there are three different evolutions for the character to make to go from Obi-Wan to Ben. The first story was about surrendering to the will ofthe Force and the second story was about Kenobi coming to terms with his own mortality. Lucasfilm andEwan McGregor were on board with the idea of a trilogy.^[2] In another meeting, Beattie explained that his two core ideas for the project involved Kenobi leavingTatooine andcoming face-to-face withDarth Vader. He was told that neither of those could happen, so he cited the1983 filmStar Wars: Episode VIReturn of the Jedi when Vader toldLuke Skywalker that Kenobi once believed there was still good in him. Beattie explained that this never happened in the2005 filmStar Wars: Episode IIIRevenge of the Sith, which convinced them that he had a point. He added that people would need to believe that Vader killed Anakin Skywalker. This convinced the team to hire Beattie to write the script for the first of three Kenobi feature films.^[3] He spent around a year and a half working on the script.^[2] One of the writer's main purposes in writing the story was to show Kenobi going on a journey to accept the fact that Anakin Skywalker had been killed by Vader.^[3]

Beattie wrote Vader as being obsessed with Kenobi and revenge. From the beginning of Beattie's story, EmperorPalpatine would tell Vader to forget Kenobi and focus on the present problems. The film would begin with Vader taking on five Jedi and killing them, which Beattie wanted to establish that Vader was "the big Jedi killer." In one scene Palpatine sent Vader to crush arebel uprising and he was trying to forget Kenobi. Vader told Palpatine that Kenobi andYoda were the two biggest threats, causing Palpatine to get angry and remind Vader of his place.^[3]

Beattie gaveclone trooperCody a big role in the draft and the film would explore Cody's character arc and show how he transformed from where he was inRevenge of the Sith toObi-Wan Kenobi. It would be revealed that Cody had hisinhibitor chip removed, allowing him to refrain from hunting Kenobi. Cody then became Kenobi's "secret buddy" and they would both feel overwhelmed by guilt. Beattie's idea was that when Kenobi left Tatooine, he left Cody in charge of Luke Skywalker, which was meant to be a side plot that the film would cut away to. Cody was planned as a way to show how disconnected Kenobi was from the Force due to forcing his will upon young Skywalker in a manner similar to whenSuperman lost his powers in the1980 filmSuperman II. Beattie wrote Cody as a fun character who is tragically racing against his accelerated aging. The writer added a comedic scene when Kenobi and Cody visited the localsarlacc to get rid of some deadstormtroopers, and other locals showed up to also get rid of bodies. Beattie wanted Kenobi to surrender to the will of the Force, allowing his powers to come back in a climactic moment similar to whenSuperman's powers returned inSuperman II.^[4]

Beattie created theInquisitorReva to give Kenobi someone to defeat or save because he'd be unable to save Vader. He also wanted the freedom that comes with creating a new character. When Beattie was creating Reva, he thought of having Vader leave her for dead during theGreat Purge of the Jedi Temple, sending her on the path to become an Inquisitor. This allowed the writer to create a confused and blinded character filled with hate and rage. In the script, Reva was going to be the only Inquisitor. Beattie figured that it would not make sense for her to know that Vader was Anakin Skywalker.^[5] Beattie did not includethe Grand Inquisitor because he later appeared inStar Wars Rebels, meaning that he could not be killed. The writer felt like having no one die would take away from the jeopardy of the story. During the film, Kenobi would have a vision of being onMustafar and he was attacked by Luke Skywalker played by ade-agedMark Hamill. Skywalker almost killed Kenobi, but theJedi Master snapped out of the vision and realized that putting his guilt on Skywalker would turn him to thedark side. Beattie was excited to be part of the firstStar Wars project to bring back Skywalker.^[4] Beattie had Reva get killed by Vader to end his obsession with Kenobi and because the writer felt that she could "only redeem so much."^[5]

Vader and Kenobi wouldduel on aspace station that was falling apart in theatmosphere of a largeplanet. The whole story would build up to Kenobi taking off or slashing Vader'shelmet and giving him a scar. Vader wouldpush Kenobi off and he would not have the chance to find Kenobi. Seeing Skywalker's face would have convinced Kenobi that Vader killed Skywalker. Beattie found it important to separate the two during the duel because he believed Kenobi would kill Vader if he had the chance. At the end of the story, Vader would believe Kenobi was dead, which would explain why Vader stopped hunting Kenobi and justify why he was shocked to learn that hismaster was alive in the1977 filmStar Wars: Episode IVA New Hope.^[3]

Beattie was not hired to work on the rest of the trilogy because he was too busy working on the first film. After the poor box office performance of the2018Star Wars Anthology filmSolo: A Star Wars Story, it was decided that no more spin-off films would be made. Beattie then left the project to work on other things. WriterJoby Harold took Beattie's scripts and turned them into aDisney+ six-hourtelevision series.^[2] Despite leaving the project, Beattie still received teleplay, story, and writing credits for four episodes of the series.^[6]

Filmography[]

Notes and references[]

External links[]

• Stuart Beattie onWikipedia
• Stuart Beattie at theInternet Movie Database