It appears as though Star Wars is returning to Obi-Wan Kenobi's Padawan era - and hopefully that means the franchise will tell the story of his forbidden love to Duchess Satine. Star Wars has always been something of an unusual franchise; its narrative hops around the timeline with impunity, a habit even seen on the big screen itself. That creates tremendous opportunities to flesh out characters' backstories in detail.
Take, for example, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Played by Alec Guinness in the first Star Wars film, the most important parts of his backstory were then detailed in the prequel trilogy, with Ewan McGregor playing the younger Obi-Wan. He's set to return as star of his own Disney+ TV show, set during the Dark Times of the Empire's reign and exploring Obi-Wan's self-imposed exile to Tatooine. Tying in with this, Marvel Comics is releasing an Obi-Wan miniseries also set during the exile, but featuring flashbacks through Obi-Wan's life - including to his time as Qui-Gon Jinn's Padawan. This time period has only been explored a little so far, notably in Claudia Gray's excellent novel Master & Apprentice, but so far one crucial story hasn't been told in canon; Obi-Wan's forbidden romance with Satine Kryze, the Duchess of Mandalore seen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
According to dialogue in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, a civil war broke out on Mandalore, with Satine's New Mandalorians advocating for peace. The Jedi Council sent Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi out to help, and they spent a year there protecting Satine. During the time, Obi-Wan and Satine grew close; had she asked, Obi-Wan later admitted he would have left the Order to be with her, but Satine felt bound by duty and the two parted ways. This was clearly one of the foundational experiences of Obi-Wan's life, and yet curiously it has never been explored in detail.
This oversight is particularly remarkable given there is a strong parallel between Obi-Wan's romance with Satine and Anakin's love for Padmé Amidala. Both Jedi, after all, were drawn to charismatic women with a strong sense of moral duty and positions of political power. Like his Padawan, Obi-Wan was torn between two attachments - between the woman he loved and the Jedi Order he had grown up in. Unlike Anakin, he was able to resolve it by making a decision; he would have chosen Satine had she asked him to, but the Jedi remained his default choice. In contrast, Anakin was unable to choose between two attachments, and wound up living a lie - betraying his vows while enjoying his marriage to Padmé.
This story is perhaps more important than it seems at first. Star Wars: The Clone Wars strongly hinted Obi-Wan knew about Anakin's relationship to Padmé, although it was unclear how long it took him to figure it out. It's quite possible Obi-Wan's own history led him to decide to keep quiet about his friend's double-life, simply because Obi-Wan wished Anakin could have the happiness he himself had been denied. If so, the Star Wars story gains yet another layer of tragedy.
