One Tatooine mystery has always plagued me, and Star Wars hasn’t given a clear answer yet. Tatooine is a critical planet throughout Star Wars movies and TV shows. After being introduced as Luke Skywalker’s home planet in A New Hope, Tatooine appeared several more times in the Star Wars Timeline.
Tatooine was the location of Jabba’s Palace, where Han Solo was being kept in carbonite in Return of the Jedi, but it also ended up being the home of young Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and the location of Anakin’s brutal massacre of the Tusken Raiders in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. Given this level of importance, it would seem the planet has been thoroughly explained and explored. However, one pervasive mystery remains.
Obi-Wan Isn’t The Only Example Of Tatooine’s Advanced Aging
Tatooine seems to age people inexplicably quickly, and Star Wars has yet to explain why. In A New Hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi looks to be quite old, and he was played by Sir Alec Guinness, who was 62 at the time (although, Arguably, he looked older). However, The Phantom Menace revealed a very young Obi-Wan, and even in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan still looked rather young. In fact, Obi-Wan actor Ewan McGregor was 32 when filming that movie.
Tatooine seems to age people inexplicitly quickly.
Although Obi-Wan was slightly older than that in Revenge of the Sith, around 35 years old, that would make Guinness about a decade older than Obi-Wan would have been in A New Hope. As Guinness’ Obi-Wan also did look a bit older, the jump between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope was jarring. Only 19 years had passed, but Obi-Wan looked to have aged by about 30.
Obi-Wan isn’t the only one to have been impacted by this rapid aging. Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen, also on Tatooine, both aged considerably between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Their ages align with Obi-Wan’s in that regard, with the couple looking to be in their 20s or 30s in Revenge of the Sith but around their 60s in A New Hope. In fact, Aunt Beru Bonnie Piesse was just 22 in Revenge of the Sith, but actress Shelagh Fraser, who played Beru in A New Hope, was 57 at the time of filming.
Is Something Deeper Happening On Tatooine?
Many have identified Tatooine’s harsh environment as the reason for characters aging rapidly, but that has never convinced me. Yes, intense heat, sun, and sandstorms may cause some aging, especially in one’s face, but the drastic changes in appearance can’t really be explained by just sun and sand. Even with the Obi-Wan Kenobi show, which saw McGregor reprising his role at 50 years old approximately 10 years after Revenge of the Sith (a smart move on Star Wars’ part) and included a joke about Obi-Wan being an old man, I’m still not convinced.
Many have identified Tatooine’s harsh environment as the reason for characters aging rapidly, but that has never convinced me.
However, Star Wars has introduced a number of odd planets with unique features over the decades, from the Sith planet of Exegol in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to Mortis, the home of Force-sensitive gods, in Star Wars: The Clone Wars . It’s possible that Tatooine has some other mysterious attributes that could explain why characters age so rapidly. For now, though, I am still quite confused by the effect Tatooine had on multiple Star Wars characters.
