Star Wars wouldn’t be Star Wars without droids. But in the era of Star Wars TV, droids are few and far between. Sure, there was IG-11 in The Mandalorian Season 1, and The Book of Boba Fett had a few cameo appearances, but it’s been a while since a new droid was introduced to Star Wars canon.
Instead, there seems to be a fascination with bounty hunters. Whether it’s Mando, Boba Fett, or one of the many members of the Bounty Hunters’ Guild, bounty hunters are in vogue. This Obi-Wan Kenobi leak suggests we’ll see the best of both worlds in a bounty hunter droid.
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According to Star Wars News Net, 4-LOM will appear in Obi-Wan Kenobi. That may sound like the name of a lawncare product, but if you’ve seen Empire Strikes Back, you’ve seen this insect-headed droid before: He was one of the many bounty hunters recruited by Darth Vader to hunt down Han Solo. Since the movies focused on Boba Fett, the other candidates became fodder for the now non-canon Legends storylines.
According to Legends, 4-LOM was created to be a protocol droid like C-3PO, but while onboard the luxury liner Kuari Princess he got into a game with the ship’s computer calculating all the hypothetical ways a thief could pilfer the passenger’s valuables. This programming went overboard, and eventually 4-LOM was stealing the items himself for “safekeeping.”
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Across the years, 4-LOM became a master thief and, after an alteration to his programming, a bounty hunter. He often worked with fellow bounty hunter Zuckuss in the first years of the Galactic Empire. But that happened years after Obi-Wan Kenobi is supposedly set, so what could 4-LOM have to do with this post-prequel adventure?
The answer may lie in one of 4-LOM’s many criminal careers. Before his software was altered, 4-LOM also worked as an information broker, passing off pieces of information for the right price. The world of Obi-Wan Kenobi may need a broker as Obi-Wan gets involved in some adventure that tears him away from his watch over a young Luke. 4-LOM could be the perfect answer.
Introducing 4-LOM into the Obi-Wan Kenobi canon fits the show perfectly. They’re already bringing back Darth Vader, so why not revive another villain from the original trilogy, one that never got his due the first time around? Plus, with advances in special effects, the bug-headed droid is sure to look impressive.
The Inverse Analysis — If this leak is to be believed, then we can probably count on all sorts of original trilogy Easter eggs beyond just Darth Vader. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a huge opportunity to give some much-needed screen time to forgotten characters who, in a scant few seconds, cemented their role in the galaxy.
Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres May 25 on Disney+.