Ahh, the Grand Inquisitor. The cone-headed baddie suffered a pretty catastrophic wound back in Obi-Wan Kenobi episode two. But was it fatal? Did the Grand Inquisitor really die in Obi-Wan Kenobi? He looked in a pretty bad way when we left him, but if there are two things we know about Star Wars, it’s that bacta tanks are magical and the Grand Inquisitor’s canonical story isn’t over. Rupert Friend, who plays the pale, potentially deceased Inquisitor boss, recently stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! to talk all things Obi-Wan Kenobi. But he kept pretty mum on the fate of the Grand Inquisitor.
Friend isn’t a stranger to playing characters who suffer injuries making viewers go, “Wow, he survived that?!” He did, after all, spend five seasons sustaining devastating injuries as Peter Quinn on Homeland. But where the Grand Inquisitor’s fate is concerned, he was very careful about saying too much, only clarifying that Reva’s lightsaber to the gut only slashed through one of his stomachs.
What Friend means is that Pau’ans have two stomachs. And the Grand Inquisitor is a Pau’an. This makes me think that they’re like a kidney in humans, Pau’ans have two but can survive with one if necessary. As Kimmel noted, it’s pretty interesting timing that Friend is now appearing on the late-night talk show if his character is already resting in the eternal dark side.
One of the really fun aspects of the Star Wars Disney+ series is how well they bring the animated series into the fold. So many Obi-Wan Kenobi fans know a whole lot about the Grand Inquisitor from Rebels. Jason Isaacs voiced the character in Rebels, and luckily did so from the confines of a voice booth. And I say luckily because Friend’s journey to bring the character to live-action sounds a bit gnarly. For starters, there are the four hours in the make-up chair. Then there’s the “sensory deprivation” prosthetics which apparently make for a very sweaty experience underneath.
We’re only two episodes away from finishing our Obi-Wan Kenobi journey. And I hope we get to catch up with Friend’s Grand Inquisitor once more, at the very least in a bacta bath. But then again, after episode four, I am firmly rooting for a Fortress Inquisitorius workplace drama.