An artist of George Lucas’s «Star Wars» films talked about the changes made by the director in «Star Wars: The Last Stand at the last minute. They had significant consequences.
Concept and storyboard artist Ian McKaig gave an extensive interview StarWars.com in honor of the 25th anniversary of «The Hidden Threat». In particular, he said that Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan originally exchanged names:
«It’s interesting how things develop. For a while, the older Jedi was called Obi-Wan, and the younger one was called Qui-Gon. It was very poignant when Obi-Wan dies at the end, and Qui-Gon defeats Darth Maul and stays with his master when he dies. He not only takes on his master’s tasks, but also takes on his name. Qui-Gon becomes Obi-Wan. That’s why when you see Alec Guinness in «A New Hope», he puts his hood down and says: «Obi-Wan? That’s a name I’ve never heard…». Because he’s not Obi-Wan, he’s Qui-Gon. And at the end, George changed it to»,” says McCaig.
Such a turnaround is very would change the characters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn. Possibly with serious consequences not only for the rest of the prequel films in the «Star Wars» trilogy, but also for the future of the franchise.
Given how significant Obi-Wan Kenobi has become in the movies and TV series, it’s hard to imagine the implications. As McCaig points out, it would at least shed new light on Obi-Wan’s strange reaction when he heard his name called in A New Hope». Since then, «Star Wars» has gone to great lengths to explain this reaction. Recently, in series «Obi-Wan Kenobi» showed that Obi-Wan went into exile to train with his former teacher Qui-Gon Jinn — now a Force ghost. This would also be interesting given that Obi-Wan takes on yet another new name on Tatooine: Ben Kenobi.
Sources: IGN, ScreenRant