Taking place on Tatooine, the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series should show an important part of Tusken Raider culture: what happens when they unmask. Thanks to The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and now Obi-Wan Kenobi, the backwater Outer Rim world of Tatooine is being explored more than ever before in the Star Wars canon timeline. With this has come a particular focus on Tatooine’s Tusken Raider tribes, whose customs regarding their masks have yet to be revealed in the new continuity.
Tusken Raiders are one of Tatooine’s indigenous sapient species, along with Jawas. In Legends, the two species were once the same, known as Kumumgah, during a time when Tatooine was covered in oceans and jungles. Canon material, especially The Book of Boba Fett, depicted Tusken Raiders as more nuanced than the dangerous hostiles they were in the original and prequel Star Wars trilogies.
Tusken Raiders don’t have a definitive depiction without their signature masks in either continuity due to their customs. Showing one’s skin is a taboo in Tusken Raider culture and is punishable by exile at best and death at worst. A Legends-era short story had Obi-Wan Kenobi exploit this restriction to defeat a group of attacking Tusken Raiders, and a similar scene should happen in Obi-Wan Kenobi, highlighting one of their traditions and finally revealing their appearance unmasked.
In Jude Watson’s short story, The Last One Standing, Obi-Wan retrieves moisture vaporators that were stolen from the Lars Homestead by a tribe of Tusken Raiders. Rather than murder the warriors as Anakin Skywalker once did years ago, Kenobi opts to cut off their wrappings with precise lightsaber strikes, causing his assailants to break their rule of never showing their skin. While the Tusken Raiders were distracted, Kenobi left with the vaporators, earning a fabled status among the Tusken Raider tribe.
In addition to showing a key tradition among Tusken Raiders, adapting this short story in an episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi would also allow the series to finally show viewers what Tusken Raiders’ faces look like under their masks. The true appearance of beings like Jawas and Tusken Raiders have been shrouded in mystery since 1977, and adapting this moment would reveal the faces of the latter in the canon timeline. Kenobi’s quick thinking and adherence to the Jedi Order’s belief in restraint would be perfectly demonstrated as well.
Based on concept art, Obi-Wan Kenobi will not take place entirely on Tatooine, but given Obi-Wan’s mission to remain hidden from the Empire while watching over a young Luke Skywalker, the series will likely spend a significant amount of time on the desolate world. In addition to criminal gangs and lethal fauna, Tusken Raider tribes are one of the potential dangers Obi-Wan will face during his mission. After two Disney+ shows that brought sympathy and nuance to Tusken Raiders and a mysterious true appearance, Obi-Wan Kenobi should have its hero non-lethally defeat a group of Tusken Raiders by unmasking them.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is scheduled to premiere May 27, 2022, on Disney+.
